Ceres: Agents of Chaos
by Connor the speling pro
Summary: Despite the threat of Giygas looming over the universe, people insist on squabbling among themselves. What appears to be a minor uprising in Scaraba foreshadows conflicts on a far larger scale... This fic is part of a series, but please don't be afraid to check it out. :)
1. Prologue: Human and Alien

**Warning:** **Killer author's note ahead. I know that it's long, but please read. Thanks! :)**

 **Hey, everyone! I'm back from my hiatus and I didn't manage to get as much writing done as I had hoped. Oh well. :(**

 **First: an announcement. I'm working on a collab fic with DarkFoxKit called** **A Cold Reality.** **No pressure to check it out, but if you're interested...**

 **Onto talking about this fic. In case I didn't make it clear enough, this story is** **part of a series.** **In fact, it's the final installment of a trilogy.** **But wait! Please, don't click the back button yet! I'm working really really hard on this story, so it would mean a lot to me if you gave it a shot. In case you don't want to read two full-size fics before trying this story out, I tried to make this one stand on its own. In fact,** **the first part of this story is closer to canon than anything else in the series.** **Well, not like the prologue and the first couple of chapters, but after that you'll start to recognize a lot of the locations.**

 **That being said, feel free to read the first two Ceres fics before taking a crack at this one if you want. And if you who aren't interested in this story and honestly don't care about my desperate pleas (no shame in that haha), the back button is on your upper left. Have a nice day. :)**

 **Still with me? Maybe you're willing to try out a chapter or two to see where the story goes? Thanks for giving this story a shot. I honestly care a lot about my fanfics, so readership means a lot to me. :) You might be able to guess by how seriously I take my fics, but the story itself is more serious than most fics. But if you read some of the other stuff in this Earthbound section then you're probably set haha.**

 **Anyways, I'll be detailing a few terms and explaining characters at the end of each chapter for people who are new to the series. Hopefully it won't be too much of an eyesore. You don't need to read it all on the first round through, but maybe you could refer back to the key terms if something confuses you. The prologue features a lot of characters and terms you may not recognize, but we'll get back to Ness and the others soon. Just try to hang in there, all right? :)**

 **As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and I'll respond to each one individually. Not that you probably want to hear me talk _more_ after reading this AN haha.**

 **As for my update schedule... I don't know. I'll see how things go, I guess. xD**

 **So yeah, thanks for giving this story a shot (or returning to continue reading the series, if you've been following me in the 13 months since I've started Ceres). I really do hope that you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

Jeffrey Andonuts walked out of purple, crystalline hallways to find himself standing outside. The Ceresian sun shone bright in the sky; the sound of birds chirping marked signs of life beyond the reaches of human civilization. Jeff looked back at the disorganized tower of crystal that stretched almost higher than he could see. The entire structure looked almost like someone had turned a massive cone upside down and stuck it into the ground.

The structure was known as the Shard of Ceres. Jeff had ventured there to get answers and wound up finding out what his friends were doing back on Earth.

Jeff turned to look at the woman standing next to him. Her name was Diana Carpainter, a repentant ex-cultist who freed herself from her cult leader and father Mr. Carpainter years ago.

"It feels nice to get back outside, doesn't it?" Diana asked, closing her eyes and smiling. "We've been cooped up in the Shard of Ceres for too long."

Diana possessed an astonishing sense of humanity for someone who carried the blood of thousands on her back. It wouldn't satisfy the cops, but Jeff accepted her nonetheless.

After all, she had helped him through some emotional struggles, almost like a mother would. Jeff reflected that Diana was old enough to be his mother and that his real mother had died during childbirth. Was this what it felt like to have a real family?

"You're getting that analytical look on your face again," Diana said. "What are you thinking about?"

"A lot of things," Jeff answered. "I don't know if it was wise to use the knowledge locked in the Shard of Ceres to create laser guns, but I won't back down now. My friends changed the universe with their psionics; now it's time for me to join them."

"Yeah, we had this conversation before," Diana said, staring off into the distance. "You know that I don't approve. Still, I can't blame you. Just stick to dealing with problems on Earth, all right? Most of the psions on Ceres would eat you up if you tried to mess with them."

"I guess that's what happens when a planet is the capital of an empire for a millennium," Jeff said. "Even though it's been 80 years since the empire disbanded, sometimes I look at Ceresian psions with their elitist beliefs and wonder how much has really changed."

"You know what they say," Diana said. "People cling onto tradition like infants to their mother's breasts."

"You don't seem to approve of tradition in general," Jeff noted.

"It happens when your family traditions involve murdering people."

Jeff and Diana stood in silence for several minutes.

"I think that I should go now," Diana said. "I, unlike you, have the psychic powers required to deal with the idiots on Ceres. Since my sister's dead, I have to deal with psyching Geldegarde Monotoli as president. I would rather work with Pokey Minch's father."

Jeff snorted. He tried to picture Diana reasoning with the conspiracy theorist swordplay teacher and couldn't keep a straight face for more than a second.

"So you'll teleport me back to Earth?" Jeff asked.

"Yup. One way trip to Onett coming up!"

Jeff frowned, looking at the purple dome above the habitable portion of Ceres. Originally, Ceres lacked the conditions to support human life, so several centuries ago a group of psions implanted the dome to simulate the conditions of an atmosphere.

"But the dome blocks you from teleporting outside of Ceres, doesn't it?" Jeff asked.

"Not my kind." Diana shot Jeff a secretive smile. "Call it a special ability."

"You seem to have a lot of those," Jeff grumbled. "You can also track people based on the thoughts that they leave behind, right?"

"Indeed," Diana said. "But those abilities come at a steep price."

Jeff perked up. This was the first he had heard about a drawback to Diana Carpainter's powers.

"Ah, I probably shouldn't have said that," Diana muttered. "It's better if nobody knows…"

"Knows what?" Jeff asked.

Diana shook her head.

"Please, forget that I ever mentioned it," she said. "It doesn't matter."

Jeff disagreed, but he kept his mouth closed.

"Now," Diana said. "We need to come up with a little code phrase. The next time we meet, I may not be in this form and I want you to know it's me."

Diana could shapeshift into any form that she wished with relative ease, which led to some awkward moments. Jeff started to care a lot less about that ability once he realized that all powerful psions could basically do the same thing.

"How about 'the stars shall never again align?'" Jeff asked.

"That's pretty pessimistic," Diana pointed out.

"It was honestly the first thing that came to mind," Jeff said. "It's catchy, but people probably won't say it by chance. I don't see anything wrong with it."

"All right," Diana said. "I just hope that I don't get bogged down by your pessimism. Dimension Door."

Diana waved her hand and a portal appeared right in front of Jeff. It led to an area of infinite emptiness. A moment later, another portal appeared inside of the first portal that showed what looked like an abandoned shack.

"Head east to reach Onett from there," Diana said. "Although there really aren't many other places to go."

Jeff nodded. He leapt through the first portal, floated through the emptiness and passed through the second portal and into Onett. He landed on a wooden floor that creaked underneath his weight. He looked back through the portals to Diana and waved.

"Have a nice trip," Diana said before closing the portals off.

* * *

Starman Jenny piloted the human body that she was controlling through the streets of Scaraba. She wondered if she could even consider herself a starman anymore. She basically took over the role of a human's brain, guiding this piece of flesh where she ordered.

Jenny had studied humans before, but she didn't realize how annoying it was to actually _be_ one. Even though starmen were organic creatures, they basically functioned as robots for Master Giygas. He transmitted the commands; they obeyed. Humans were so different.

For starters, she was always receiving signals about how the body was hungry or tired or hot or whatever the problem happened to be at that particular moment. After trying to ignore the signals for a few hours, she started to experience that "irritated" state that humans sometimes felt. Would those obnoxious signals ever stop? Finally, she gave in and fulfilled her body's basic needs though food and water, returning it to homeostasis.

Still, being a human had its perks. As a starman, she mostly experienced the world through the psionic realm, a plane of existence parallel to the physical realm. Information there was transmitted through thoughts, which grew rather… bland. As a human, she could see, hear, taste, and smell. It had taken her a couple of days to deal with the sensory overload that came with controlling a human body.

Jenny walked up to a man on the other side of the sandy road. She adjusted her cowl to hide her face. Whenever these humans saw her physical appearance, they gave her stares and unsettling looks. Jenny wasn't quite sure why.

"Excuse me," Jenny said. "Would you happen to know anything about an artifact located somewhere around here? Maybe something called the Sound Stone?"

The man looked at her like she was crazy. Well, being controlled by a starman probably did fit the human criteria of abnormal behavior.

"Listen, woman," the man said, as if her gender were somehow relevant. "You're not from around here, so why should I help you?"

Jenny wasn't sure which surprised her more: the way that he could instantly tell that this body didn't come from Scaraba or the fact that he cared. Honestly, why did it matter to him what _country_ this body came from? They still belonged to the same species. Humans continued to mystify Starman Jenny.

"Yes, it's obvious that you're a foreigner," the man said. "I can tell by the way that you talk. Are you Eagleish, perhaps?"

He could tell by the _way_ that she talked? So the enunciation of particular syllables in the Eagleish language somehow defined where a person came from? These humans made no sense at all.

"Fine, I'm not from here," Jenny said. "But I would still appreciate help. This artifact is quite important to me."

"What's your name, woman?" the man asked, his voice getting rougher by the second.

"Mary," Jenny answered.

Mary wasn't her name but the name of the human vessel that Jenny controlled. Apparently, this human had been the last empress before the intergalactic human empire collapsed. She didn't seem to have anything special to show for it, unless a missing spirit counted. Jenny filled the role of Mary's cognitive spirit because the empress lost her own.

"Sounds like an Eagleish name," the man grumbled.

"Why does it matter?" Jenny asked.

"Because all Eagleish are the enemies of Scaraba," the man said. "They're going to hell, every last one of them."

Oh, right. Religion. The ideas of heaven, hell, and god fascinated Jenny almost more than the fact that some humans actually _believed_ in such supernatural forces. It boggled Jenny's mind how they could create stories and myths with no real logic behind them and accept it as truth.

"Isn't that a rather silly and grotesque oversimplification?" Jenny asked. "After all, not all Eagleish are the same."

The man's face soured. He pinned Jenny against a wall with his large, muscular arms.

"Listen," he said. "If you really are Eagleish, then there's not a force in the universe that will prevent me from…"

Jenny had heard enough, and her shoulders were transmitting pain messages from the man shoving them into a wall. She bashed her forehead into the man's face and shoved him to the ground.

"Goodbye," she said, walking away. "Perhaps I will find someone more cooperative."

"I'll psyching kill you!" the man shouted, scrambling to his feet. "Death to all Eagleish!"

Jenny didn't turn back. Reading the man's mind, she could tell that he didn't intend to actually pursue her. Strange, how humans puffed up their chests and acted tough to cover up their own insecurities. The most cooperative humans that she had met here in Scaraba were the ones with the least cognitive dissonance and the most emotional fortitude.

Still, it irked Jenny how humans could hate other humans so much for just being born in a different country. It's not like they could really control their birth circumstances, after all. The more that she interacted with these humans, the more that she appreciated starman egalitarianism. Master Giygas judged all of his starmen based on performance and skill alone. Why didn't these humans do the same?

As Jenny continued walking through the sandy streets of Scaraba, she picked up on a dull sense of compulsion from her body. Something was trying to draw her body to the northwest.

Jenny knew this sensation quite well. The reason that she could control this human was because it lost its cognitive spirit, which was now trapped inside of a knife called Dynaldas. If the body could find that knife, it could try to release the trapped spirit back into this body and become whole again.

 _Onett,_ Jenny thought. _The knife is in Onett._

The human's body bombarded Jenny with signals, begging her to go over to Onett and retrieve the knife. Again, Jenny had experienced this struggle several times before. Each time, it became harder and harder to say no.

 _We must retrieve the Sound Stone for Master Giygas,_ Jenny thought. _After that, we can get your cognitive spirit back. There's one bit of information that you might find awkward, though…_

 _Dynaldas, the knife with your spirit, is currently held by your great-grandson Ninten._

* * *

General Kim See-Yoon of Dalaam walked through the grey halls and grey floors of the starman base on some godforsaken planet. He often wondered about whether or not he should involve himself with an entity as powerful as Giygas, but he had enough faith in his abilities to keep going forward.

After all, everyone got what they deserved in life. If Kim failed and Giygas turned on him for whatever reason, it would reflect bad character on his part. That bad character would have caused his downfall no matter what situation he was placed in.

But Kim was confident in his morals. Sure, he slaughtered thousands of "innocent" civilians, but humans were never really supposed to care about the masses anyway. His duty was to his family, friends, and homeland of Korea. And if Kim was wrong about that… Well, he never would have been allowed to kill so many people in the first place. Someone or something would have stopped him.

Giygas appeared in front of Kim, interrupting his thoughts. Kim had seen the alien leader a few times before, and his appearance remained simple and unimposing. Giygas looked like a withered up Starman with its shiny, grey skin and tentacle arms, except that it was almost completely engulfed in a metal sphere with grey orbs clinging to the outside. Kim couldn't tell if the shell was part of his body or some sort of device that always went with him.

"Greetings, Master Giygas," Kim said, offering a Dalaamian-style bow. "I am pleased to inform you that my rebels and I have overthrown the Dalaamian throne. We even killed Minerva Carpainter, the president of Ceres."

Ceres was the capital planet of the empire that fell 80 years ago. Even after a democracy was instated and planets were theoretically equal, Ceres' influence spread far past its purple barrier in the sky. The Ceresian President was by far the most powerful person in the universe. Killing off President Carpainter had caused ripples that dwarfed anything that Kim could manage by overthrowing the Dalaamian King alone.

"Additionally," Kim continued, "The Secretaries of Psionics, who are the second and third most powerful figures in the universe, are also dead. This means that the new president will most likely be Geldegarde Monotoli, the current Secretary of Defense. If he runs his planet the same way that he runs his military campaigns, Ceres will fall without our intervention."

"WHAT ABOUT THE SISTER?" Giygas asked. He didn't use his voice to speak; he and his starmen communicated mostly through telepathic messaging.

"You mean President Carpainter's sister?" Kim asked. "Diana Carpainter? I figured that she had drunk herself to death years ago. Considering that she hasn't made any major impacts in the last couple of years, I wouldn't be too worried about her."

"YOU UNDERESTIMATE HER," Giygas said. "DO YOU REMEMBER THE INVINCIBLE WARRIOR?"

"Yes, the one who is named Lucas," Kim said. "He started to regain control of himself, but I heard that you captured him. I must commend you for that, Master Giygas."

"SAVE YOUR FLATTERY FOR SOMEONE WHO CARES. LUCAS ONLY REQUIRED CAPTURING IN THE FIRST PLACE BECAUSE OF DIANA CARPAINTER. SHE IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ANYONE THINKS."

Kim paused, the gears grinding in his head as he tried to process the information. Diana's lack of appearance wasn't a sign of depression. Rather, it revealed a cunning streak. Of course she wouldn't go out in about in her regular skin. Most powerful psions could change their appearance at will. Just how many strings had Diana Carpainter been pulling while nobody was looking?

"I apologize, Master Giygas," Kim said. "I shall keep my eyes peeled for her."

"GOOD. DO YOU HAVE ANY WORD ON KUMATORA?"

"I thought you said that she was in Scaraba?" Kim asked.

"I CANNOT TRACK HER. I MUST RELY ON REPORTS. IF YOU HAVE A REPORT, SPEAK."

"Negative," Kim said. "I must admit that her whereabouts completely vex me."

"AS I EXPECTED. IF YOU SEE HER, DO NOT HOLD ANYTHING BACK. SHE IS ONE OF THE OSOHE. SHE IS AN ALIEN WHO DRIFTS THROUGH TIME."

Did Giygas have a personal stake in hunting down the pink-haired girl? After all, the legends said that Giygas created the Osohe, although that idea made little sense to General Kim. From his talks with Giygas, he had seen that the alien leader hardly understood humans, which the Osohe shared many qualities with.

"As you command," Kim said. "Will there be anything else, Master Giygas?"

"NO. RETURN TO DALAAM AND KEEP YOUR COUNTRY INTACT. IF I HAD WANTED TO TALK TO YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE, I WOULD HAVE MET YOU THERE."

Kim often had a difficult time grasping the intricacies of starman culture… or rather, the lack of them. Because Giygas' psionics were more efficient than Kim's, it made logical sense for Giygas to warp around and meet his subjects rather than them coming to him. However, Kim was used to kings stuffed with pride and vanity who took joy in forcing their subjects to come to them and hadn't even considered the alternative when deciding to inform Giygas of his victory.

"As you say, Master Giygas," Kim replied with a bow. "I shall be on my way."

General Kim's heart continued to pound in his chest as he walked away from Giygas. By God, that _thing_ unnerved him more than he would ever admit. Whenever Giygas spoke, it became hard for Kim to retain his sense of self. The aura of power that the alien leader created was just too overwhelming.

Lost in his thoughts, Kim didn't notice the person standing in front of him until she spoke.

"See-Yoon," she said, her voice characteristically reserved. "It's been a while."

"Zanine," Kim said, looking at the veiled woman. "I didn't know that you had the balls to work for Giygas."

"Always insulting people," Zanine said. "I should have been the one to leave you, not the other way around."

While they were both speaking in Eagleish, Kim found Zanine's Scaraban accent difficult to understand. Perhaps she felt the same way about his Dalaamian accent. He didn't particularly care either way.

"Maybe you should have," Kim said. "I never loved you in the first place."

"Just like you cannot love any woman," Zanine said. "You have no wife but many sons. Are we all just tools for your pleasure?"

Kim honestly didn't know the answer to that.

"Your heart is colder than a Dalaamian winter," Zanine said. "I do not know why I didn't see it earlier."

"I wasn't always this way," Kim said softly. "People change."

"People change into mass murderers, apparently," Zanine said. "You sit atop a throne of blood and tears, See-Yoon."

General Kim's Mu training normally gave him excellent control over all parts of his body, but it wasn't enough to keep his surprise from showing.

"Come on, See-Yoon," Zanine said. "This is the modern age. Information gets around. And as one of the leaders of the Scaraban Resistance, it's my job to know about foreign affiars."

"You? The leader of a resistance movement? You couldn't lead a group of ducklings if you imprinted them to see you as their mother."

"People change," Zanine said, her eyes flashing with determination. "Your words still sting, but I will not let a couple of welts stop me."

Well, _that_ was new. Kim supposed that it was good for her to finally try to change her destiny and influence the world around her. He smiled, causing her to glare.

"Good luck in your resistance movement," Kim said. "Although I honestly don't give a psych whether it succeeds or not. Scaraba means nothing to me."

"Nothing means anything to you," Zanine said with a shrug. "I've gotten used to it."

Instead of lashing out and denying Zanine's ludicrous accusation, Kim widened his smile.

"I shall take my leave," he said. "Tell our son that I said hi."

"Oh, I won't have to," Zanine whispered as General Kim teleported away.

* * *

General Kim See-Yoon appeared back in his chambers in Dalaam. The lower air pressure and oxygen levels that existed near the peak of a Dalaamian mountain made Kim's head swirl, but he would adjust. He had spent enough time teleporting around that his body had gotten quite resistant to abrupt altitude changes.

When Kim tried to take a step forward, his knees buckled. Kim collapsed and fell to the floor. He tried to stand back up, but his limbs simply didn't obey the orders from his brain.

Okay, this usually didn't happen. What the psych was going on?

"Too easy," can a voice from above him.

"Guards!" Kim shouted. Apparently his voice still worked. "To me! Guards!"

"Nobody's coming to save you," said the same voice.

Kim's body was rolled over so that he was lying on the ground looking up, but he didn't feel anyone touch him. He craned his neck (he could still move that, apparently), and saw a young man who looked like a grotesque mix between a Scaraban and a Dalaamian.

"Still haven't figured it out?" the man asked. "You put a psionic enchantment on this room, remember? Anyone who teleports in is paralyzed from the neck down."

"Yes, I put that enchantment down in my quarters after fighting that royal brat Prince Poo," Kim said. "But I didn't place it _everywhere_. The spot that I teleported to should have been safe."

"Ah, I altered the enchantment to include the entire room," the man said. "It was too easy. To be honest, I didn't think that it would actually work. Surely the great Dalaamian general would have another trick up his sleeve to let a little bit of tampering catch him off guard." The man chuckled. "I guess not."

The man's condescending tone rubbed Kim the wrong way, but he didn't let it show.

"Who are you?" Kim asked. "I don't believe we've ever met."

"I'm told we met when I was a baby," the man said. "I'm one of your sons. Since you spent so much of your life creating children, I shall specify further. My mother is a Scaraban woman named Zanine."

So _this_ was the ugly creation that Zanine had birthed? Kim was starting to see why mixed race couples didn't occur more often.

"Ah, of course," Kim said. "What's your name again? Durian?"

"Even in your darkest moments, you still have the capability to compare me with one of your repulsive Dalaamian fruits," the man said, shaking his head in wonder. "The name's Darius, although I really don't care what you call me."

"Okay, Durian," Kim said. "I'm paralyzed and helpless. What are you going to do to me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Darius asked, cocking his head. "I'm going to kill you."

If Kim could still feel his spine, a chill would have surely run down it. The flippant way that Darius discussed death sent of all sorts of alerts in Kim's mind. He tried to scramble away even though he knew that his arms and legs didn't work.

"Don't look so surprised," Darius said. "You're a monster. You killed thousands upon thousands of civilians. You even killed when there was no practical benefit. That's sadistic behavior."

"I'm not supposed to care about the random people on the streets," Kim said. "Helping my friends and family back in Korea by freeing them from this oppressive Dalaamian rule is my first and only priority."

"That's funny," Darius said, "Because one of your bothers orchestrated this whole assassination."

"Oh, if you expect me to believe that…"

"Look at me, father," Darius said. "I'm 18 years old. Do you think that I have a single clever cell in my entire brain? I'm just a pawn. Really, I expected you to figure this one out."

"But that doesn't mean that my family betrayed me."

"Why would I lie?" Darius asked. "You're a dead man anyway."

"Because you want to hurt me," Kim said. "You're probably pissed that I was never there for you or something."

Darius scrunched up his nose.

"This isn't about me," he said. "You're a stain on the world that needs to be scrubbed off. I'm just the one on clean-up duty."

Kim chuckled.

"How about this?" Darius asked. "You justified your killing of civilians by saying that everyone controls their own destiny. You said that if they had the will to live, they would have somehow survived. Isn't that right?"

How had Darius known that?

"Yes, that's right," Kim said.

"So, by the same logic, you could survive and escape from my grasp if you really had the will to," Darius said.

"I suppose," Kim replied.

"So… do it. Let me see this philosophy in action. I'll give you five minutes."

"But I'm paralyzed!" Kim protested.

"And those civilians that you killed were slower than horses, unarmed, and unarmored, yet you still expected them to survive if they tried hard enough. Four minutes and fifty seconds."

Kim tried to force himself to get up. He believed that anyone could break through seemingly invincible barriers if they possessed the will. Darius was right; he could do this just like the civilians could have, even though it made no logical sense in either case. He tried and tried to control his limbs and get the psych off the floor. He tried and make the hand motions required to teleport away.

No response.

He tried again and again for what felt like hours. Nothing worked.

"One minute," Darius said.

Kim closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had one minute to prove to his son that anyone could do anything if they cared enough. He meditated to flush out his stress and fear. Time lost its meaning; his soul and the calm were all that mattered in the universe.

"Ten seconds."

Kim's eyes opened. With every ounce of power that he had, he _willed_ his hands to make the hand motions needed for teleportation. He pictured himself bursting through a wall of stone and moving his hands in just the right way to teleport away. He threw everything that he had at that image. Never before had he been so motivated, so dedicated. In his state of mania, nothing could stop him.

His hands didn't move.

"And zero," Darius said. "I guess you were wrong, huh? There are some things that we cannot control."

"No…" Kim said. "I tried so hard. Why…?"

"Because that's how paralysis works. While some nerves can grow back over long periods of time, your spinal cord never will unless you heal it with psionics. It was literally impossible for you to make the hand motions required to teleport, father. I hope that puts all of your killings into perspective."

Darius pulled a curved sword out of a sheath on his belt and stabbed General Kim. Being a monk who had undergone Mu training, Kim possessed a psionic aura that would absorb several attacks that he took. He could even use the aura to stall the damage and take it slowly rather than all at once. A westerner had once described taking damage with psionic stall to Kim as being similar to an odometer ticking down, which made no sense to him (didn't odometers tick up?). Still, with no way to recover damage, Kim had no chance of surviving for more than a couple of minutes.

"See?" Darius asked. "This doesn't even hurt because of your paralysis. I could stab you in the face to inflict pain, but I would rather give you a dignified death. That is what it means to be a decent human being, father."

"To kill your family?" Kim asked.

Darius smiled, his eyes twinkling with humor. He stabbed Kim another time.

"To take the option that causes the least pain," Darius said. "You're too dangerous, so I have to kill you. But I didn't kill your guards; I knocked them out. I'm not torturing you; I'm giving you a painless death. But I don't know why I'm justifying myself to a dead man."

For the first time in years, General Kim See-Yoon gave up. He could have lived longer by using his psionic aura and psionic stall, but he knew that there was no point. Darius would kill him either now or in a couple of minutes, and Kim didn't really have a reason to stall his death.

General Kim turned off his psionic aura and stall, the only forces that kept him alive through the first stab. After the next stab through the chest, everything went black.

* * *

 **Key Terms (locations and OCs):**

Ceres: _A planet that used to be the capital of an intergalactic empire. It remains as a location with strong political influence and holds a monopoly on educating children with PSI._

Shard of Ceres: _a massive building made of purple crystal in the wilderness of Ceres that is rumored to hold all of the knowledge humans have ever accrued._

Osohe: _Unlike in Mother 3, these people are aliens who died off millenia ago. Their technology is unparalleled._

Psionics: _Another name for PSI. Manifesting psionics requires both hand motions and verbal incantations._

Psionic Aura: _An invisible force that protects PSI-uers from physical harm. This is the equivalent of HP in the Mother games and explains why the characters in the games can survive some pretty deadly attacks._

Psionic Stall: _The technical term for the way that health ticks down gradually when taking damage in Earthbound and Mother 3. PSI users often have a couple of seconds to heal up even after taking lethal damage._

General Kim See-Yoon: _A cold-hearted general who led a coup in Dalaam, overthrowing the king. He works for Giygas._

Diana Carpainter: _Daughter of Mr. Carpainter, and formerly a member of his cult._ _Goes by the alias Mr. Agerate and teaches PSI on Ceres._

Minerva Carpainter: _Daughter of Mr. Carpainter and Diana's twin sister. She was the president of Ceres until dying from poison in Dalaam._

Mary: _The last empress before the empire fell. Frozen in cryosleep by Giygas so that a starman could hijack her body and take advantage of her powerful PSI._

Lucas: _A brainwashed soldier powerful enough to slay entire armies. Giygas currently controls him._


	2. Chapter 1: Knowledge of the Future

**Hey, everyone! :) As you guys may expect, this story kicks off on more of a somber note. Soon, though, there are going to be some scenes that are actually marginally close to canon. Can you imagine it? A scene in Ceres with connection to the actual games? I can hardly believe it either! :D**

 **Also, the new Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney is pretty good. It might be good enough to distract me from my writing some more. :P**

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

 **PKTofuMaster:** Yeah, I'm doing fine... if being frustrated at not writing much counts as fine. D: Yep, I was trying to find some place to fit Lloyd into the story with everything else happening (still am, actually). There are going to be some twists in this Ceres as well, so hopefully those go over just as well. :) And yeah, Ness is working on keeping his spirits up. Yep, cue the sound stone race. But you know me, I couldn't make the story about _just_ an adventure quest. The situation in Scaraba's about to get sticky... But yeah, that's a pretty good checklist to sum up what's happened. Yeah, the deaths of Minerva and Ana's parents were one of the few details that I kept from my original thoughts of how the story was going to turn out, and then I had to kill off some others to thin my cast down since I need to introduce new characters with ties to Scaraba (cue Darius and Zanine). Yeah, see you! :)

 **crabbyTomato:** Yeah, it makes sense. City of Progress took about 3 months to complete, and that's about half as long as a Ceres installment. Hopefully I can complete this story in the next 5 months. :) Yeah, those are all the characters that died at the end of the second book. Yeah, I figured that a lot of them would be kind of redundant, but with so much info in this story... well, maybe it will help even people who did read the first couple of installments and forgot the stuff that I didn't explain super well. :) Heh, I've learned to make Jeff a bit more proactive, so you won't see him calling quits anytime soon. Well... not calling quits at everything, at least. He will continue to do things. ;) And yeah, you totally called it. :) I wouldn't count on Fassad and Hinawa still having their bodies lying around considering what happened to Aphrodite. Yep, Zanine is basically the new Morgan (but a little different...) and she'll play a more intricate role in the plot. Uh... no, they do not call Eagleland the "Great Satan." I didn't know that was an actual thing. Thanks for the vote of confidence and see you later! :)

 **A Fan:** Well, we have a couple new OCs! :D But yeah, Darius and Zanine along with Diana returning are basically all of the OCs that you really have to worry about for a while. And apparently "Gigyas" is a thing of mine because I made the mistake several times. Whoops. ._. It's hard when spell check tags the word whether or not its spelled correctly haha. And yep, no typoes heree. Yeah, not only is a durian a fruit, it's supposedly a really smelly fruit (I've never come into contact with one, so I guess I wouldn't know). Yeah, the steep price thing is a quick and dirty way to make a character not seem like a Mary-Sue. Not my most creative moment, I admit, but I wanted to remind people that Diana does have her own struggles that no amount of raw power can solve. And actually, Jenny PoVs won't be as common as you might expect. Not for a while, at least... And you're welcome. :) I still don't see combat as his main role in the story, but I did want to give him _something._ Pew pew. All right; see you later! :)

* * *

 **Somewhat important info (this stuff's more urgent so I put it before the chapter):**

 _Paula Polestar: An unfortunate victim in the Dalaamian uprising. Slain by General Kim._

 _Dr. Andonuts: A mad scientist who ended up killing himself right after telling Ninten to track down the Sound Stone._

 _George's letter: While under the guise of a child named Lloyd, former Emperor George left Ness a letter filled with several secrets, including the existence of a mythical "Sound Stone" and a dark future for Ninten, among other things._

* * *

 **Part 5: Planet of Discontent**

 **Fragmented Memories: Darius, 80 A. F.**

* * *

 _I can sense the beginning of the end. Grey-skinned aliens known as starmen walk the surface of the Earth. Dalaam has gone up in flames. For better or for worse, President Minerva Carpainter is dead. She kept the universe in purgatory. She kept the universe safe._

 _Without her, the universe will dissolve into chaos._

 _Should I try to stop it?_

* * *

Ninten walked off the funeral grounds in Twoson, his heart stuck in his throat. After the sounds of talking became soft chatters carried by the breeze, Ninten let his shoulders relax.

 _I'm not cut out for this,_ he thought. _Going to a funeral requires patience and social literacy. I can't do either of those for shit._

"Thanks for leading me through that, Ann," Ninten said. "I would have been completely lost without you."

Ana smiled. For most of his life, Ninten had seen her as a mother figure, despite the fact that he was four months older than her. Perhaps he felt that way because his actual mother had never really been there for him. Regardless, Ninten still wasn't comfortable with the recent revelation that Ana practiced self-harm, stabbing herself with a knife and using psionics to heal the wounds.

The two had come to a nonverbal agreement not to talk about that nasty habit of Ana's, at least until they had resolved the issues right in front of them.

"You mean all of the Catholic practices?" Ana asked. "You just do what everyone else does. I only knew what to do because my parents were both Catholic."

Her parents _were_ Catholic. Those words hit Ninten in the gut, and they weren't even his parents.

"I'm sorry, Ann," Ninten said. "It must have been really hard to lose a friend and your parents in the same day."

"I'm holding up," Ana said.

 _Holding up by stabbing yourself in the arm?_ Ninten thought. _Holding up by screaming behind closed doors?_

"Ah, psych," Ana said. "We never should have gone to Dalaam. All we left behind was a trail of blood."

"From what you said, it sounds like your parents and President Carpainter would have died even if you weren't there," Ninten said. "At least you tried to help."

"But our helping still got Paula killed," Ana said, looking back at the funeral. "It's still so much to take in. I can't believe that she's in a coffin under the ground and that we'll never see her smile or laugh ever again."

Ninten grunted, trying to hold back tears. Ana turned back to him and sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I probably shouldn't have reminded you. It's probably harder for you than it is for me. A lot of people say that there's no greater source of grief than losing a lover."

 _For lovers, Paula and I weren't super close,_ Ninten thought. _I should probably be more devastated than I am._

"It was hard for me to see who Paula really was," Ninten said. "Since we started courting so recently and all. So while I do feel crushed… it's number than I expected."

"Numbness still isn't a good feeling," Ana pointed out.

"I suppose that it isn't."

The two stood in silence.

"Do you blame yourself for Paula's death?" Ana asked after the pause.

"Not really," Ninten said. "She chose to go to Dalaam. I chose to go to Winters. We both accepted the possibility that one of us might not come back." Ninten balled his hands into fists. "I guess that was just the way that it played out. Is that a bad thing to say?"

"Some might say that you're refusing to take responsibility," Ana said, "But I think it's fine. You let her do her own thing and take responsibility for her actions. In fact, that's probably why Paula was so attracted to you. I wasn't there when General Kim held a knife up to her throat, but I think that she would have gladly died to save the rest of us."

Before Ninten could respond, he heard someone stomping towards him from behind. He glanced over his shoulder, spotting Paula's father.

 _Ah, psych,_ Ninten thought. He didn't have time for this.

"You," Paula's father said, thrusting a finger towards Ninten. "I never trusted you. We always told Paula to find a godly man, not some lawless peasant! And what do I find out? You roped her into some sort of adventure and let her die!"

"Careful, Mr. Polestar," Ninten said. "If you keep it up, you might drown in your own stupidity."

Paula's father growled. Ninten knew that his insults were doing more harm than good, but at this point he couldn't care less.

"We're not at the funeral anymore, so I can do anything to you that I want!" Mr. Polestar shouted.

"And I'm the one with psychic powers here," Ninten said. "I could squeeze your brain until it becomes a pile of mush. Oh wait, I'm a little late on that one."

"Did you call me stupid again?" Paula's dad asked, his face flushing red.

"Listen, both of you," Ana said, steeling her voice. "We know that both of you hate each other. We know that Paula cared about both of you and wouldn't want either of you to get hurt. Why don't we all just walk away from this one?"

"And who do you think you are?" Paula's dad said, turning on Ana. "If you think that I'm going to listen to some little girl, you're sorely mistaken."

"I'm not asking you to listen to me," Ana said. "I'm asking you to listen to God. Would he approve of this hatred and violence? Isn't wrath one of the seven deadly sins?"

"The boy is godless!" Paula's dad screamed. "He's an atheist! Why don't you try talking to him about how dead _he_ is on the inside?"

A snort came out of Ninten's nose before he could think about it. Ana shot him a disapproving look.

"Doesn't Jesus love everyone, even sinners?" Ana asked. "He may not approve of their actions, but he can still wish them the best. All we're asking you to do is to ignore someone."

Ninten could see the gears turning in Mr. Polestar's head. With a huff and a glare directed towards Ninten, Paula's father turned around and walked away.

"Did you convert to Christianity while I was gone?" Ninten asked.

"No," Ana said, "But it's tempting. After people that I care about die around me, it's hard to believe that they're completely gone."

"Well, you're agnostic, right?" Ninten said. "So you believe that there _might_ be a god…"

"But I'm not counting on it," Ana said. "Which makes it hard. Still, I don't think that I'll gain faith in any god or gods anytime soon. Religion is too external with all of its congregations and focus on community. I prefer to deal with my problems on my own."

 _And that might be why you're resorting to self-harm,_ Ninten thought. _You try to take on the entire universe by yourself._

"However, there's something that I could use your advice on," Ana said. "But I don't know how you'll react."

"Well, I've been known to lack empathy," Ninten said. "So I totally understand if you want to ask someone else."

"That's quite an empathetic statement coming from someone who supposedly lacks it," Ana said, a smile dancing on her lips.

"Honestly, though," Ninten said. "You should probably talk to Ness. He's a lot nicer than I am and he _is_ your boyfriend."

"Well, it's about Ness."

Ninten paused, looking at Ana as she averted her eyes.

"Are you two having _relationship problems?_ " Ninten asked. "First, what could possibly be going wrong? Second, I'm probably the worst person in the entire universe to talk about romantic relationships with."

"Well, you and Paula did pretty well together," Ana said. "You clearly know something about relationships."

"That's because you were the matchmaker! You even coached me on how to show my feelings and discuss difficult topics with her while not seeming like a jerk."

"Oh yeah, I guess I was behind a lot of that," Ana said. "But my issue is a relationship problem in a different way."

"How so?" Ninten asked.

Ana took a deep breath.

"Promise that you'll never tell Ness, all right?" she said.

"Sure," Ninten said.

 _But if Ness really needs to know, I'll break that promise in an instant,_ Ninten thought. _Hanging onto promises is usually what makes good people do bad things, and I'm not even that great of a person to begin with._

Ana took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. She looked around in all directions.

"Nobody else is nearby," Ninten said. "You can tell me anything.

"All right. I'm…" Ana grimaced. "I'm gay."

Ninten blinked.

"All right," he said slowly. "When did you find this out?"

"I knew before I asked Ness out to the dance back on Ceres," Ana said.

"And you still decided to court him?" Ninten asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He was depressed and I wanted to help," Ana said. "I didn't think that it would actually _last._ "

"Of course it lasted. He adores you, Ann. You're strong yet caring. You protect him without making him feel inferior. That's a rare combination to find."

"Okay, whatever," Ana said. "So what do I do about it? I feel like the longer I drag it out, the worse it will be. I really want to resolve this soon, but I have no idea how."

 _And you're asking me?_ Ninten thought. _Homosexuality is so taboo in rural America that I don't even know how to think about you anymore._

"Well, I don't really see a problem," Ninten said.

"What do you mean?" Ana asked. "Of course there's a problem. I can't love my boyfriend!"

"You two always acted more like friends then lovers," Ninten said. "If you break up romantically but still support each other, not much will change."

"But I'm scared to tell him," Ana said. "What if he pushes me away?"

"Ness couldn't even push Pokey Minch away," Ninten said. "He needs you way more than you need him. Besides, he'll do basically anything that you tell him to if you ask nicely. Just say that you want to be friends rather than lovers. You don't even have to tell him why."

"It just doesn't feel fair to him…"

"News flash: you matter too!" Ninten said. In a softer tone, "I think that you need to do a little bit more for yourself, Ann."

"I don't think you understand," Ana said. "Most of the activities that I enjoy involve violence. I'm just a sword, Ninten. My desire is to destroy, not to build. I try to dull my edges when I can. The reason that I don't think about myself more often is that my desires are dangerous. It's best to avoid them altogether."

 _That's a sad way to live,_ Ninten thought.

"And do you ever want to change that?" Ninten asked. "Do you ever wish that you did enjoy activities that benefited society?"

"All my life," Ana said, looking at Ninten with a sad smile.

* * *

Ana teleported herself and Ninten back to Onett, where Ness' family was staying. They had all come to Paula's funeral as well, but they hadn't stuck around as long after the formal burial.

As Ninten walked up to Ness' house, he spotted a familiar face. How could he ever fail to recognize Claus with his bright red hair, pirate-style eye patch, and breastplate?

"Did anything important happen after we left the funeral?" Claus asked, leaning on the side of Ness' house.

"Paula's dad blew up at me," Ninten said. "So no."

Claus snorted. Ana cracked a slight smile.

"I'm going to talk to Ness," Ana said. "See you two later."

Claus' eyes followed Ana as she walked into Ness' house. If it had been anyone else, Ninten would have thought that they were enamored by Ana's attractive figure, but he knew Claus to observe every person he saw like a predator stalking prey.

"So," Claus said, turning back to Ninten. "You look like you want to say something."

Was Ninten that easy to read? At times, Claus could be sharp despite his usual adherence to the standard of a "dumb fighter."

"It's about what Dr. Andonuts told us right before he killed himself," Ninten said. "You know, how he wanted us to head over and find the 'Sound Stone' in Scaraba?"

"Are you taking him seriously?" Claus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well… yes."

"He was a self-professed schizophrenic, Ninten. I don't trust anything that comes out of his mouth."

How could Ninten explain? There were times when Dr. Andonuts was delusional, surely, but he could tell that this wasn't one of them. Despite his mental illness, Dr. Andonuts had been one of history's greatest inventors and scientists. If he thought that this Sound Stone in Scaraba was important, who was Ninten to challenge that claim?

"But think about it, Claus," Ninten said. "We've both fought starmen before. If Giygas is coming to invade our planets, we'll want to have some weapon that allows us to stand against him."

"That's a pretty big 'if'," Claus said. "And what makes you think that the Sound Stone will help us defeat Giygas even if he does show up?"

"I trust Dr. Andonuts," Ninten said. "You were knocked out when he killed himself, so you couldn't have seen it, but I know that he wasn't delusional during that moment. It seemed like he needed to break through his schizophrenia to tell me that last piece of information. I don't completely trust him either, but we don't have much to lose and Giygas could attack at any moment."

"How do we know that Giygas even real?" Claus asked. "After all, nobody's ever seen him."

"That's not entirely true," came a voice that Ninten recognized.

Jeff Andonuts walked up to Ninten and Claus, carrying what appeared to be a laser gun in his hand. He wore a small, flip up screen in front of his left eye. Those changes made him look like some warrior from a science fiction universe.

"I've seen Giygas before," Jeff said. "I stumbled in on a meeting between him and Diana Carpainter. Apparently, she finds it wise to keep tabs on such a powerful entity."

"Long time no see, Jeff," Ninten said. "And I wish that I could bring good news to you, but…"

"I saw everything from inside the Shard of Ceres," Jeff said. "My father, Dr. Andonuts, killed himself. Paula, Minerva Carpainter, Morgan Lorune, and Ana's parents are dead. I could hardly believe what I was seeing on the screens inside of the Shard; I can only imagine how it felt to actually be there."

Claus' face tightened when Jeff mentioned Morgan. Did Claus still feel guilty about killing her?

"Still," Jeff said. "I would be inclined to trust my father's judgment about Giygas. Were you discussing how he told you to find the Sound Stone in Scaraba?"

Claus and Ninten exchanged a glance. Jeff had gotten a lot better at reading social situations since they last parted ways.

"Yeah," Claus said, crossing his arms over his chest. "A mythical artifact saving us sounds like utter bullshit to me."

"Remember, the Osohe created the Sound Stone," Jeff said. "They possessed far more advanced technology than anything we have."

"Still, I don't want to count on a pack of long-dead aliens to save us with their creations," Claus said. "It just sounds stupid."

"There are other reasons to head to Scaraba," Jeff said. "Like Dalaam, there's political unrest that led to tension between the occupying Eagleish government and the residents. This could be your chance to make a mark on the universe."

Claus grumbled and rolled his eyes, which Ninten interpreted as him not being clever enough to refute Jeff's logic.

"Besides, what are you going to do in Eagleland anyway?" Jeff asked.

"This is supposed to be our psyching vacation!" Claus said. "Maybe I want to go to Summers and spend a couple weeks at the beach."

"That's your choice," Jeff said. "Just make the decision in full knowledge that Giygas could strike at any time and that Scaraba might fall into chaos like Dalaam."

Claus took turns between glaring at Jeff and glaring at Ninten. To his credit, Jeff no longer seemed intimidated by Claus' gaze.

"Psych you both," Claus said. "I'm in. I can't believe that I got roped into going to psyching Scaraba."

"I would like to come as well, if that is possible," Jeff said.

"Of course," Ninten said. "We would be glad to have you."

"Ah, glad to see you unusually agreeable," Jeff said, cracking a smile.

"Glad to see that you're not trying to show off your new gadgets like you always do," Ninten retorted.

"Is _that_ why you never liked me?" Jeff said. "You could have just said so."

"It just seemed a little self-important," Ninten said. "That we should all care about all of your fancy new toys."

"Again, you could have told me," Jeff said. "That might have saved us many an awkward glance."

"Hmm?" Claus said. "I wasn't even aware that you two used to not like each other."

"It doesn't really matter," Ninten said. "We should leave for Scaraba soon. I don't know what Giygas and the starmen are planning, but if Scaraba's political uprising is anything like Dalaam's, we'll probably find aliens trying to throw their weight around amidst the chaos. Every hour sooner that we get there is an hour more that we have to gather information and prepare."

"I still think that it's a little silly how three teenagers are trying to save the world by influencing politics and hunting down ancient artifacts," Claus said. "Tell me when that has ever worked. We should leave this one to the adults."

"That's where we come in," Ness said, walking out of his house carrying a paper scroll.

Ness and Ninten were described as looking nearly identical. Indeed, they both possessed the same black hair and eyes, the same bowling ball-shaped face, and the same robust body. However, while Ninten stood confidently and showed his every flaw to the world, Ness always seemed to be shrinking back and hiding from something.

"Ana and I decided to head over to Fourside and talk about the Scaraba issue with Eagleland's governor," Ness said. "We're not ignoring the adults. We want to get the universe leaders involved with this issue. Because Ana's parents were pretty powerful figures, she can hopefully get Earth's leaders to take her seriously."

"And why aren't we involving Ceres with this?" Claus asked. "They have several times more power than Earth, both in terms of politics and combat."

"Remember when Ceres got involved with the cults on Vulcan?" Ness asked. "That didn't end well. Besides, Ceres is going through quite a few struggles of its own. Geldegarde Monotoli has become the new president, replacing Minerva Carpainter."

Ninten nodded along with the rest of the group. Monotoli's political power was only rivaled by Minerva Carpainter and Ana's parents, all of whom got killed in Dalaam. Putting him as president would be the logical choice.

"He doesn't seem like a good leader," Ninten said. "From what I've seen and heard, he's paranoid enough to see basically anyone as a potential political rival. I don't think that we can trust him to trust us."

"And he's not afraid to pull strings to get what he wants," Jeff said. "Slice a few throats, blackmail a few poor fools… at this rate, he might be a worse president than Minerva Carpaitner, and she wiped out an entire planet!"

Ninten once again shot a glance at Claus. Surprisingly, Jeff mentioning the destruction of his home planet didn't send him into a foul mood. Instead of the dark scowls and crossed arms that Ninten expected, Claus simply nodded along.

"Ceresian ex-nobles aren't trustworthy," Claus said. "People like Monotoli are still bitter that the empire fell and they're supposed to be the same as anyone else."

"That's part of the reason why Ana doesn't want to enlist his help," Ness said. "But not everyone supports Monotoli. He's probably dealing with uprisings we don't know about. Scaraba's probably the last thing on his mind."

"Psych, it will be nasty when we go back to school on Ceres with all of that political tension," Claus said, shaking his head. "Maybe Vulcan wasn't so bad after all."

Ninten hadn't thought about school in quite some time. Even before this vacation, he had missed a month of school to fight a war against the empirists over on the planet of Vulcan along with Claus and others. Ninten supposed that he would have to go back to the school on Ceres to learn more about his psionics eventually, but he had been so preoccupied with his present struggles that he hadn't looked towards the future.

"You can say that again," Jeff said. "But at least we have a plan for now. Ninten, Claus and I will go to Scaraba to find the Sound Stone while Ness and Ana go to the authorities to discuss politics."

"You guys know about the Sound Stone too?" Ness asked.

"Yeah," Jeff said. "My father told Ninten to find it right before he killed himself."

The flippant way that Jeff talked about his own father's death sent a shiver down Ninten's spine. This was no longer the starry-eyed kid who broke a smile whenever he saw a psionic circuit. Jeff was the new model of calculated efficiency, and Ninten couldn't help but think that something had died inside of him.

"The question is," Claus said. "How did _you_ know about the Sound Stone, Ness?"

Ness blushed, stuttering and fumbling for a response.

"Oh…" he said. "You know. I, um…"

"It doesn't really matter," Jeff said. "Let us head to Scaraba as soon as we can manage. The Sound Stone isn't going to find itself."

"Actually," Claus muttered. "I think by definition it's already found itself, unless you mean spiritually."

"Again, that is beside the point." Jeff whirled around and faced Ness' house. "How soon do you think that you two can be ready?"

"I think that we're both ready now," Claus said. "We still have supplies packed from our trip to Winters."

 _Yeah,_ Ninten thought. _Like all of our fur coats are going to be useful in a psyching desert._

"Excellent," Jeff said. "Let us recruit Ana to teleport us over there."

Jeff walked into Ness' house after Ness directed him there, leaving the three remaining teenagers to stand in awkward silence.

"He's changed a lot," Ness whispered.

"Speaking of changing," Claus said. "Try to keep an eye out for my brother, all right?"

"I'm sorry," Ness muttered, staring at his feet.

"You know that it isn't your fault."

"Wait, what about Claus' brother?" Ninten asked. "Am I missing something here?"

"The mass murderer that you were tracking down on Vulcan was my brother Lucas," Claus said. "He had been brainwashed by President Carpainter to be used as a mindless soldier, but he escaped from the lab and started killing random people."

 _Wow,_ Ninten thought. _As if blowing up his home planet Aphrodite wasn't reason enough for Claus to hate her._

"Claus and Diana subdued him," Ness said, his voice soft with regret, "And I tried to help him become a regular human again. I was making progress, but Giygas came along and snatched him up. I can only assume that he's brainwashed again."

What would that be like? Such stories continued to remind Ninten that while his life was basically a steaming pile of garbage headed for a dumpster, it could always be worse.

"Just… keep an eye out for him, all right?" Claus asked. "Maybe he'll listen to you."

Claus turned around and walked into Ness' house, closing the door behind him with a click.

"He made it sound like Lucas won't listen to him," Ninten said. "But they're brothers, right? Shouldn't they be close? Although, I hate my sister Minnie, so I suppose that I can't judge."

"Yeah, Claus was under a lot of stress back on Aphrodite and took it out on Lucas," Ness said. "I don't know the exact details, but I think it had something to do with the pigmasks."

 _Oh, psych,_ Ninten thought. _That kid can never catch a break, can he?_

"Considering how those fascist pigsqueaks tended to treat outsiders, saying that he was 'under a lot of stress' is probably a gross understatement."

"Yeah, I think Lucas mentioned that the pigmasks ended up razing their village," Ness said softly. "But I could be making that up. The point is that Claus got angry and jaded."

"Tell me about it."

"Like… way worse than he was when we first met him."

"Oh, geez. Now I'm actually terrified."

"He took that anger out on Lucas," Ness said. "And since Lucas is weak like me, he couldn't deal with Claus' aggression. So now Lucas is the one that hates Claus."

"Divine Rulers," Ninten muttered. "Those two had to go through so much. I know that the universe isn't fair, but why does it have to shove it in my face all the time?"

"Ninten?" Ness asked, his voice growing even meeker. "There's something else that I need to tell you."

"Yeah?" Ninten asked.

"I…" Ness took a deep breath. "You're a mystic, right?"

"Yup. But I haven't gotten any visions of the future recently. I did predict President Carpaitner's death, I suppose."

"That's a pretty safe prediction considering that everyone dies eventually," Ness said, cracking a smile. "But…"

"But what?"

"I read somewhere that mystics tend to develop schizophrenia," Ness said, flinching in anticipation.

A chill gripped Ninten, freezing him with place. He harkened back to his meeting with Dr. Andonuts in Winters. Dr. Andonuts had been a mystic with schizophrenia, and he said that Ninten was in for some sort of nasty surprise. As much as he wanted to laugh off the notion of going insane, he couldn't logically do so.

"And this is a reputable source?" Ninten asked.

"Not exactly," Ness said. "But I trust him."

 _Him?_ Ninten thought. _Who is this person?_

"I guess it fits," Ninten said with a shrug. "I tend to be paranoid and antisocial. Maybe those are warning signs."

Ness started crying.

"Huh?" Ninten said. "Is everything all right?"

"It's just so sad," Ness said, wiping his tears away. "You're just… accepting it. You know that you might go insane and you don't even try to fight back. But I'm sorry; I know that I shouldn't be the one crying here."

"Nah, tears are healthy," Ninten said. "I wish that I cried more, honestly. Too bad that my father trained me to bottle up my emotions so that I 'wouldn't show weakness.'"

"See?" Ness asked, his voice shaking. "You're always so nice. I don't know what we would do if you… if you…" more tears streamed from Ness' eyes.

"Listen, I'm not going down without a fight," Ninten said. "After all, Dr. Andonuts ended up doing amazing things despite his schizophrenia."

"Didn't you say that he killed himself?" Ness asked.

"Yeah, but that was just because he had nobody left to care about," Ninten said. "You know me, Ness. Even if I go insane, I'll battle that psyching insanity until I draw my last breath. I'll make it so that you won't even be able to tell the difference."

"Heh," Ness said. "Why do I always have to be the one who needs comforting? It's not me who got the bad news."

"It's all right," Ninten said. "Your concern is touching, honestly. I think that I need to head off to Scaraba now, but I promise that I'll be the same old Ninten when I see you again, all right?"

"Yeah," Ness said with a sniffle. "Thanks."

As Ninten turned around and walked into Ness' house, he couldn't help but wonder what schizophrenia would really mean for him. Yes, Dr. Andonuts had managed it for a time, but Ninten had seen the price that he had to pay. He had lived out in the woods for years with little to no human interaction, probably to avoid hurting anyone else around him. Ninten could see himself doing that, and it would make for a depressing life.

Ninten sighed, bringing himself back to the problem at hand. None of that would even matter if Giygas took over the world and decided to end humanity. He needed to focus on finding the Sound Stone before it was too late.


	3. Chapter 2: The Masks We Wear

***Looks at date since last Ceres update* Okay, let's hope that this doesn't become a trend. :)**

 **Hey, everyone! I'm (finally) in college, so things might start to get pretty busy soon. Hopefully I'll be able to update this story regularly. I'm actually pretty far into the rough drafts and I'm trying to finish them as soon as possible so I can focus on other things, so don't worry about me abandoning this story entirely. :)**

 **Anyways, I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. There are some parts that I like and others that need improvement yet I don't know how to fix them. Maybe you guys can pinpoint those parts for me and offer suggestions. You know, if that's your type of thing.**

 **Also, pretty much everyone on campus is off watching the football game here, so things are really quiet over in my dorm. I guess this is what happens when I care not at all about sports. In fact, I might even watch some smash bros tournaments on twitch instead...**

 **And if anyone cares, the new Ace Attorney is pretty good. You'll find no objections here. :)**

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

 **Shimo no ko:** Ninten reminds you of Sans? I'll take that as a compliment! :) Yep, I finally listed her as one of the main characters. She was never meant to be one when I first started the story, but I like her character enough that it just kind of happened. But yeah, 4 PoVs is going to be tough. Well, we'll see how Jeff develops throughout this story. Out of all of the characters, he was possibly the hardest to write because his strengths aren't very pronounced so it's hard to make him interesting and cool. And I'm glad that you liked the whole planning process; one of my writing quirks is that my characters aren't very impulsive since I'm not (I'm that person who never takes free soda when it's offered because of the sugar content). Well, thanks and I'll see you later! :)

 **A Fan:** Yeah, I get that sometimes when I'm reviewing stories. It happens to the best of us. :) The whole Giygas thing is hard to justify, but I make a couple subtle-ish attempts. The one I'll say here is that Giygas views time in a very different way than we do. Years pass in an eyeblink. Waiting to conquer the world like this is his version of putting the alarm clock on snooze when you don't want to get up. :)

 **DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, I miss Paula too, actually. But considering how long this story is taking and how many characters I already had... I needed to kill people off. :( And there's a little part in this chapter about Lucas, but don't expect to see him for a while. Other plot arcs are coming into the fray. :)

 **Wimpy Guard:** Yeah, moving in went fine and I'm getting along well with my roommate, so things are going pretty well. Which is lucky, considering that I've already heard roommate horror stories. Heh, my first class starts on Monday. Three cheers for 8 am classes Monday-Friday! And I have to get up early to take _chem_ of all things. Talk about something I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.

I'm kidding... mostlyl ;)

Anyways, most of the reason why my characters are hard on religion is that the society in general is quite atheistic. As such, people have a harsher view of religion and it pushes that religion to the extreme. You know how some atheists get really annoying and defensive about their beliefs when they really don't have to be because they feel like they're always being attacked? Paula's dad is like that but with religion. And not _everyone_ who I portray as religious is annoying. :P I know that you didn't click with Paula, but Ana's parents had a lot of things going for them before they... yeah. So because of the world, I'm not going to talk too much about religion's positive side because my characters don't care much (with the possible exception of Ana), although I would consider Ana's position to be the negative side of being agnostic/atheist. And other characters in this fic will suffer because they don't have religious beliefs to fall back on. I'm just going to trash everything wheee.

Okay, I'll take another look at dialogue tags. Generally, I add extra because I assume that my readers aren't following the story as I do, but maybe not. :) And yep, friendly crit is nice :) But it's important to keep that friendly tone, especially online where it's easier to miscommunicate. You're probably better at that than I am. :P And yeah, it will be a long time if I ever do get something published, but I'll be sure to let you know! :)

* * *

 _We in Scaraba lust after Fourside almost as much as we despise it._

 _Despite its size, Fourside was never the capital of the Roman Empire before it went intergalactic. Indeed, before it was known as Fourside, the city was originally called Byzantium and then was renamed Constantinople._

 _Although Fourside's structure is exceedingly Western and commercial, it was heavily influenced by Scaraban culture and design. Fourside was the gateway from the East to the West, and my people longed to control it._

 _So while we hate Fourside because it houses the Eaglelish government that oppresses our people, we desire the city's power and beauty for ourselves. The love and hate that we share for Fourside brings out the worst in us_

* * *

"It's a psyching shame," Tracy said to Ness. "Even now, it still seems so hard to believe. Paula was such a nice person. She always made you happy as a friend and even included me sometimes. But she's gone, isn't she?"

Normally, Ness found it difficult to concentrate over the smell of his mother cooking steak, but now it was all too easy for Tracy's words to weigh on him like stones.

"I know," Ness said. "I wish that we had done more together. I wish that I had spent every second I was bored with her instead."

"It could have been you," Tracy said, her eyes growing wide. "You were in Dalaam with her. I could have lost you too."

"Yeah, that's what happens to psions," Ness said with a shrug. "We're trouble magnets. Thank you for actually caring about my safety this time."

Tracy shot a glare at Ness.

"I _always_ care," she said. "Is this about the time back on Vulcan? You know, when you were visiting dad and he got killed?"

 _And I nearly did too,_ Ness thought. _By all rights, I shouldn't be standing here right now._

"Yeah, I guess."

"Don't you think that I was grateful to have you come home safe?" Tracy asked.

"Well, you didn't really show it," Ness said.

"I was angry because you did nothing and leeched off of our family for several months after that happened," Tracy said. "But I never wanted you to _die!_ "

"I'm sorry," Ness said. "You just get aggressive sometimes, so I assumed…"

"That I didn't want you to live? All I ever said was that I wanted you to help out!"

 _I… guess she's right,_ Ness thought. _I was completely out of it after dad's death. Considering what mom and Tracy had to go through, it makes sense that they would be a little bitter._

"I was wrong," Ness said. "I made a mistake by assuming that you didn't care about me."

Tracy shot Ness a confused look. After all, the first rule of having siblings was to _never_ admit that the other person was right.

"I guess I'm getting a little snappy," Tracy conceded. She was too proud to admit more than that, but Ness detected the sincere apology underneath. "I just wish none of this had happened. Then it could be you and Paula hanging out like normal teenagers while I butt in like annoying little sisters are supposed to. Wouldn't it be so nice to act normal like that?"

"Yeah," Ness said. "If Paula and dad were still alive, this universe would look a lot brighter."

"Is this how other people feel too?" Tracy asked. "Is everyone else just as hopeless when death passes by?"

"I think so."

"So much pain," Tracy whispered, hugging her arms. "How can we take it?"

"By focusing on the good times and hoping for a better future," Ness said. "It's all that we can do."

"Didn't Paula believe that we go to a utopia in the sky once we die?" Tracy asked. "That's starting to look pretty appealing right now."

"I know what you mean," Ana said, walking up to Tracy and Ness. "I _want_ to believe that my parents are in a better place even though I… don't." She shook her head. "I'm thinking that we should head to Fourside tomorrow unless you have something else in mind."

"So soon?" Tracy asked. "We hardly got to see you!"

"I'm sure that we'll come back soon so that you can spend some more time with Ana," Ness said.

"I was talking about _you,_ dummy," Tracy said. "It's been lonely, especially since I don't have any friends. You had better not get yourself killed out there, all right?"

"Don't worry," Ana said. "I'll do everything in my power to keep him safe."

"Ana's bailed me out of trouble plenty of times," Ness said. "I'll be safe in her hands."

"Heh, it's easy to see why you like her!" Tracy said. "She's pretty _and_ helpful. She's basically the perfect one for you!"

"Tracy!" Ness said, his cheeks growing hot.

Ana smiled.

"Trust me, Tracy," she said. "There's plenty about me that's far less than perfect."

 _Really?_ Ness thought. _Because I haven't seen any flaws yet._

"Never would have guessed," Tracy said. Her face lit up. "But who else is hungry? Let's eat!"

During dinner, Ness and Ana finalized their plan to head off to Fourside the next morning. Ana insisted on planning out every little detail from packing food to setting their alarms, which Ness was content to let her do on her own. Ness' mother was visibly disappointed when they told her their intent to leave so soon, and the fact that she pretended otherwise just made it worse. Ness wanted to spend some more time with her and make her happy, but he knew that he was making the right choice by sticking with Ana.

When Ness crawled up to his room after dinner, he plopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling for hours. What could he do, really? Ana was clever, commanding, and proficient with psionics, while Ness was none of the three. Would he forever be dead weight to her?

As Ness drifted off to sleep, his opinion of himself grew darker.

* * *

Ness found himself falling through empty space. He could still see himself, so there had to be a light source somewhere, but Ness spotted nothing but a blank eternity that sprouted in all directions.

 _Is this Lucas' Magicant?_ Ness thought. _Am I back inside his mind?_

As if to answer his question, Lucas appeared standing on a patch of grassy land that acted as a floating island in the face of otherwise infinite emptiness. Unlike before when Ness had seen him in Magicant, Lucas retained all of his facial features. Lucas jerked his hand and Ness stopped falling, floating right in front of the island. The grass at Lucas' feet swayed, but there was no wind to move it. In his right hand, Lucas held a sunflower. He used his left hand to stroke the petals as if he were feeling animal pelts. The yellow petals yielded under the pressure, letting Lucas fingers flow over them like a cascading river.

"This is all that I have left, Ness," Lucas said, his voice harsh and bitter. "My mother's memory is all that keeps me here. Which is strange, considering what happened to her."

 _What did happen to her?_ Ness wanted to ask. The words got caught in his throat.

Lucas tossed the sunflower off the patch of land. Ness watched it until it became a speck in the distance, and continued watching until he couldn't see it at all.

"That is what will happen to my mind," Lucas said. "Fall and fall… because psionics and the mind don't obey the laws of physics. Things fall without reason, without an equal force pushing back."

"Lucas!" Ness said, reaching out. "Are you all right?"

Lucas' shoulders sagged. He smiled, but Ness saw an ancient pain hidden behind those eyes. Why did that pose remind Ness so much of Lucas' twin brother Claus?

"I don't think that I'll ever be all right ever again," Lucas said. "It's been a week since Giygas captured me, Ness. He's already done _this_ to my mind."

Lucas gestured to the emptiness around them.

"I'm sorry!" Ness said. "I tried to protect you, but I wasn't strong enough. I'll get you back, I swear!"

"Don't waste your effort."

"What?" Ness looked past Lucas' tightly drawn lips and saw the unspoken words inside. "How can you say that? You're dying on the inside. You need help."

"I need help in the same way that a patient in the final stage of cancer needs help," Lucas said. "Even psionics can't save them. Even psionics can't save me."

"I've never been good at psionics," Ness said. "I just want to be your friend."

"Friendship can't break bonds forged of steel or feed your family," Lucas said. "Without our needs taken care of, we are nothing. _I_ am nothing."

"No you're not!" Ness said. "I'm going to help you."

"Please, do me a favor," Lucas said. "When you see me again, I'll probably be the Masked Man again. I'll try to kill you on sight." Lucas shot Ness a hard stare. "You have to do the same, all right?"

"What, try to _kill_ you?" Ness asked. "No. I promised myself that I would never kill another human again. Did I ever tell you what I did, Lucas? How after the cultist Mr. Carpainter killed my father and his band of refugees, I gave brought their corpses back to life told them to kill Carpainter's cultists? I still don't know how much destruction I caused on that day."

"They're cultists," Lucas said. "It's like killing fascist pigmasks. It doesn't count."

"No! You can't convince yourself that killing them is okay. Every life matters, Lucas. I won't take a single one, not even if you want me to. I'm sorry."

"What if I end up killing your friends and family?" Lucas asked. "If I see you, I think that I might be able to resist Giygas' orders and freeze. You need to take that opportunity to kill me."

"I can't," Ness said, his heart heaving in his chest. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do it."

"Why did I expect this to happen?" Lucas asked, shaking his head. "Your words make no sense… But then again, maybe that's what drew me to you. Claus always made too much sense in the wrong ways."

Lucas pursed his lips, closing his eyes.

"It doesn't matter, Ness. None of it matters. Soon, I won't remember this. I won't remember you. I'll just be Giygas' output device."

"Please, don't talk like that," Ness said. "Even if you forget everything, our time together still matters!"

"I wish that I could agree." Lucas sighed. "Goodbye, Ness."

Ness started falling again. He screamed for Lucas to bring him back up, but he only continued to accelerate until he hit terminal velocity. Tears blurred Ness vision, although there wasn't anything left to see. After what felt like years, the darkness engulfed Ness and took him back to a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Ness and Ana left for Fourside the next morning. After a quick breakfast and tearful goodbyes with Tracy and his mom, Ness found himself standing along a dirt road while the morning sun shone overhead.

"It's nice to find an open road like this," Ana said. "Teleporting is a lot easier if you can get a running start. I hear that it has something to do with the kinetic energy transferring into psionic energy…" She coughed. "Sorry. I know that probably went over your head."

Well, she wasn't wrong. Still, Ness enjoyed hearing her talk. Anything to keep his mind off that meeting with Lucas.

"Here we go," Ana said. "Teleport."

She grabbed Ness' hand and ran forward. After a dozen or so strides, the world around Ness went pale for a split second before transitioning into a city of skyscrapers.

Fourside was renowned for its massive architecture, and it wasn't hard to see why. Every way that Ness looked, he needed to crane his neck to see the tops of buildings. In the center of the city stood the intergalactic astroport, which the well-off used to travel to Ceres, the psionic capital of the universe.

Despite the city's size, Ness could breathe the air quite easily. He remembered when he needed to wear face masks to even walk around on Vulcan and shuddered. Fourside's wealth made it quite the attractive place to live, unlike many cities.

"I don't know," Ana said, looking around at all of the bustling people, "But this feels like capitalism done right."

"Really?" Ness asked. "Everyone looks stressed."

"Not everyone," Ana said. "And there's so much to _do_ here. I would take a little stress in exchange for these opportunities any day."

Flashing neon overloaded Ness' senses, but he could see how all the chatter and chaos could be appealing.

"Although this is the leaf district of Fourside," Ana said. "The rest of the city isn't quite this nice. In the silver district, everyone's super rich and obnoxious." Ana crossed her arms over her chest. "And then there are the… less safe districts of Fourside. Every city's got to have its crime scenes, I guess."

Ana and Ness walked into a field with grass and trees that served as a reprieve from the industrialized towers that breached the skies. In the middle sat a man in casual clothing playing some sort of portable keyboard that sounded like a piano. The music put a spring in Ness' step as he followed Ana into the field.

"Only in Fourside…" Ana said, rolling her eyes. "But this guy's actually pretty good. Is it okay if I talk to him before we head over to the capitol building?"

"Sure," Ness said. "I don't mind getting away from all the bustling and shuffling."

"Yeah, I could tell," Ana said, cracking a smile. "Hopefully we won't have to stay here for too long."

Ana walked up to the man playing the keyboard and Ness followed behind. Next to the keyboard sat an open jar with coins inside. Ana took a silver coin out of her pocket and flipped it in; the man gave her an appreciative nod.

"You know," Ana said. "I bet you could land a job if you tried out somewhere. I know that piano players are as common as dirt, but you're honestly the best that I've heard."

Ness blinked. He had no idea what Ana was basing her praise off of; it just sounded like regular music to him.

"So you can tell," the man said, shooting Ana a secretive smile.

"Yeah, my parents trained me in music, so I can recognize when people are way better than me," Ana said. "It turns out that little girls with a passion for playing rough don't do well when plopped in front of a stationary instrument."

The man chuckled, although he didn't halt his tune.

"Yeah, music isn't for everyone," he said. "Even here in Fourside if you hit it big, there are always people looking to capitalize off of your success. And that's a pretty big 'if.'"

"Do you speak from personal experience?" Ana asked.

"Yes, yes… You can call me Keyboar."

"No way," Ness said. "Not like _the_ Keyboar, right?"

"Hmm?" Ana asked. "I'm afraid that I haven't heard of you."

"American?" Keyboar asked.

"Did my accent give it away?" Ana said.

"Partially. My band does pretty well in Eagleland, but not many people know of us outside of the country."

"Really?" Ness said. "I thought that everyone knew about the Runaway Five!"

"Oh," Ana said, her eyes lighting up. "That name does ring a bell."

"Now don't go spoiling my secret, all right?" Keyboar asked, his eyes twinkling. "If everyone knew who I was, then I would never get to catch a break. Sometimes, I just need to unwind and play whatever random pieces come to mind without worrying about corporate deals or high-stakes performances."

"Then why the tip jar?" Ana asked. "Surely you don't need the money."

"It helps me blend in," Keyboar said. "And the keyboardist of a popular band doesn't make as much as you might expect. The extra money is always useful. The best part is that I don't have to worry about disappointing anyone because everyone tips what they think my music is worth."

"Which isn't that much," Ness said, looking at the bronze coins in the jar.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Keyboar said. "When people see me as a beggar, they just assume that my music is uninspiring. People judge us more based on the masks we wear than what's inside."

"True enough," Ana said.

"That's sad," Ness said. "I don't want to become a label. I don't want anyone to become a label. We're all more complex than that."

"Indeed we are," Keyboar said. "But the ability to switch masks is useful. Often, being placed in a different position leads me to form additional perspectives that enhance my thinking and get my creativity flowing."

Ness didn't really care about creativity or other benefits to "switching masks." He just wanted to show himself to the world without any smoke or mirrors.

"Sometimes I wonder," Ana said. "It seems like we can put on a mask for anything, even if it goes against our personality. And then when people continue to mistake us for our masks, those personas slowly start to become _us._ Because if our true natures are hidden from everyone, even ourselves, they don't really exist, right?"

"That's quite specific," Keyboar said. "Do _you_ speak from personal experience?"

Ana blushed.

"Maybe," she said.

"It's okay," Keyboar said. "I won't pry."

"But maybe it explains why leaders can act so violent and evil," Ness said. "Could it be that they're just acting like they think leaders are supposed to?"

"Thinking about Dalaam?" Ana asked. "I suppose that's possible, but General Kim is another brand of evil. Even the devil is too scared to touch him." She sighed. "Speaking of leaders, do you happen to know anything about the Governor of Eagleland?"

"Pirkle?" Keyboar asked. "That man is a living embodiment of a poll. He acts which way the public supports in hopes of getting reelected. There's also the lovely corruption business that most politicians get into."

"Great," Ana muttered. "We have to meet with him."

"He's a pushover," Keyboar said, playing the final notes to close his song dramatically. "Just figure out what he wants. Once you know where he stands, it's easy to play around him."

"Thanks," Ness said. "But how did you know that? Have you met him before?"

"A couple of times," Keyboar said. "But every person's the same, my boy. While we're all complicated, we all want simple things. We all act in simple ways. It's really quite easy to manipulate people, myself included." Keyboar started playing another song. "But if you have a meeting with the governor, I shouldn't stand in your way. Have a nice day, kids."

"Yeah, you too," Ana said, walking away from Keyboar. "Ugh. Now I have even more to think about."

"I've actually met Pirkle before," Ness said. "He was the mayor of Onett for a while."

"Really," Ana said. "What was he like?"

"Fake," Ness said, wrinkling his nose. "It's the only way that I can describe him."

"Well," Ana said with an encouraging smile. "I have plenty of practice at dealing with fakery."

* * *

After walking around most of the Leaf District, Ness and Ana went to the capitol building to talk with Governor Pirkle. The guards laughed them off before Ana showed them her telekinesis. After that, they were more than happy to escort the two teenagers to the governor.

Ness looked around Pirkle's office. Stacks of paper lined the shelves, categorized and then alphabetized within the categories. Ness wasn't sure how anyone could deal with that much organization.

"Sir," one of the guards said. "These are two psions who wish to meet you."

"Psions, eh?" Pirkle asked, examining Ness and Ana. "Thank you; that will be all."

The guards left the room. Pirkle continued to stare.

"Well?" Ness said.

"Well what?" Pirkle asked. "You were the ones who wanted to meet with me." Pirkle caught himself. "But let us not get ahead of ourselves. Take a seat, if you wouldn't terribly mind."

Ness and Ana sat down in chairs across from Pirkle's desk. Ness looked at the governor with a cool stare. He could hardly stand Pirkle's feigned attitude, and they were just starting the conversation.

"We are here," Ness said, "Because we wish to discuss the Eagleish occupation of Scaraba."

"Occupation?" Pirkle asked. "I think you misunderstand, Master…"

"Ness."

"Master Ness. Scaraba is an Eagleish colony."

"I assume you've heard about the revolts?" Ana asked. "People are crying for freedom."

"Revolts, revolts," Pirkle said, waving his hand dismissively. "People get mad all the time. They'll quiet down."

"I don't think you understand," Ness said. "The reason they're mad is because you keep forcing them down."

"Listen, my dear boy…"

"Cut the crap," Ness said.

"I would prefer to avoid crap altogether. Dealing with dung is not high on my to-do list." Pirkle twiddled his thumbs. "Are either of you Eagleish citizens?"

"I am," Ness said. "So I can vouch that this is an issue concerning Eagleish-"

"Excellent," Pirkle said. "You're drafted."

"What?" Ness asked, unable to bite back a sneer. "That's not funny."

"It was not supposed to be. Contrary to your beliefs, I do consider seriously what happens in Scaraba. However, I must do it carefully, as most Eagleish citizens care more about domestic issues than foreign ones. Still, they'll blame me if the Scaraban revolt succeeds, so I must take _some_ sort of action."

"I thought I told you to cut the crap," Ness said with a snarl.

 _Why am I getting so angry?_ Ness thought. _Normally I can't stand this sort of confrontation… Maybe I just want for him to tell the truth. I'm sick of wasting time reading subtle implications._

"I'm getting to it," Pirkle said. "We need to maintain order in Scaraba. You've likely heard what happened in Dalaam."

"Yeah," Ana muttered. "Kim's a psyching monster."

"General Kim is dead," Pirkle said. "Assassinated by an unknown faction. Dalaam has descended into pure chaos. I will not let the same happen to Scaraba."

Ness reminded himself that Poo was in Dalaam, likely pulling strings behind the scenes. Was he responsible for General Kim's death? Ness just hoped that he would stay safe.

"Therefore," Pirkle continued, "I am sending in the Eagleish Army to deal with the Scaraban rebels. I am sympathetic to their pleas, but we cannot afford to let them sow chaos, not with President Carpainter dead and Dalaam in ruins."

"Lair," Ness said. "You don't care about Scaraba. You don't care about anything except for your own reelection!"

"Even so, what are you going to do about it?" Pirkle asked. "To dodge the draft is an offense punishable by a lengthy prison sense. I can call down psions from Ceres to sniff you out when you run. It's easier for both of us if you play along, Master Ness."

"I refuse!" Ness said, clenching his fists. "I can't believe that you're trying to get me involved with this stupid plan of yours. Do I have to remind you of what psions can do?"

"I have a compromise," Ana said, her steely voice and piercing eyes directed at Pirkle. "Trust me, you don't want a disgruntled psion on your hands. If you piss us off, we'll find ways to sabotage your little operation before it begins."

"That's a felony!" Pirkle protested.

"Ah, but nobody will be able to _prove_ that it's us," Ana said. "And the courts are corrupt enough that they probably wouldn't convict a psion even with overwhelming evidence. So trust me, you do not want to make us angry!"

Pirkle gulped.

"On the other hand, we are quite interested in seeing what is happening in Scaraba," Ana said. "This is where the compromise comes in. We will travel alongside your military, but we will not be a part of it. We may help you, but only when we feel like it. That way you keep us from blowing up your ships out of anger while still getting access to a pair of psions. How does that sound?"

"I… suppose that is satisfactory," Pirkle said.

"I should hope that it's more than satisfactory," Ana said with a snort. "You have no real power over us, Pirkle. Our offer is exceedingly generous. I'm only wasting my time here because fighting a legal battle with you sounds like a pain. We'll win it, but it will still be a pain. So you had better damn well appreciate this offer!"

"Yes, yes," Pirkle said, breaking out into a cold sweat. "Thank you, Miss…"

"Aniah," Ana said. "Is this plan all right with you, Ness? I know that you loathe to deal with this slime of a man."

"Um… yeah," Ness said, shrinking. "Sure."

Ana nodded curtly.

"Governor Pirkle, when is this military of yours leaving?" she asked.

"A couple of days, but…"

"We shall meet up with you then. Now, if you'll excuse us, we must take our leave."

Ana held her head high as she walked out of the room, leaving Pirkle stuttering and protesting. Ness followed her out, breathing a sigh of relief once he exited. Ana closed the door behind him, and her iron face melted away. She smiled at him, which for some reason made his heart soar.

"I'm sorry if I gave you a scare there," Ana said, leading Ness out of the building. "I just wanted to put my foot down before he could dig further under your skin."

"Sorry," Ness muttered, lowering his head in shame. "I messed that up, didn't I?"

"You didn't do badly," Ana said. "My parents trained me for a good deal of my life for how to deal with political situations like that. And then President Carpainter taught me how to control people." Ana's face darkened for a split second before going back to normal. "I had a busy childhood."

"So what do we do for two days?" Ness asked. "I mean, I don't want to force you into anything, but…"

"You want to spend some more time with your family?" Ana said.

"How did you know?" Ness asked.

"I'm your girlfriend," Ana said, kissing Ness on the cheek. "It's my job to know things about you. Sure, let's head back to Onett. Even if Pirkle wants to say something else to us, we make a statement by meeting him at our convenience."

Ness smiled. Yet again, Ana had come through with the miracle solution to solve his problems. But something about her conversation with Keyboar worried Ness. She had nearly admitted that she adopted a persona that started to take over her real personality. Could it be possible that Ana was only so nice and sunny because that's what her persona dictated?

 _Don't think that way about her,_ Ness scolded himself. _You have no reason to believe that her motives are anything but pure._

Still, Ness worried. Ana mentioned more than once that under her sociable exterior lurked a part of her that she loathed.

What else could she be hiding?


	4. Chapter 3: Unboiling an Egg

**Hello, everyone! No, I'm not dead. :) Not yet, at least haha. We'll see when midterms start to roll around.**

 **But I do promise that I will finish this story. I actually work ahead of where I update, so I have a pretty good idea for the direction that this story is going to take.**

 **This chapter is shorter than usual because parts of it were still horrendous and I cut them out. This chapter's still not really how I want it to be, but I figured that I should get this out just so that you know that I'm still alive. :) Some of the weak characters that you'll encounter during this chapter won't really appear again.**

 **Also, in this world, Scaraba is an entire country and the main city where the characters go is called Fiven. Hopefully no confusion there. :) Also, while Scaraba itself is made to model Egypt geography-wise, it's culturally Persian/Iranian. It may seem strange, and there's an explanation for it later. Just a heads up.**

 **As always, reviews are more than welcome! :) Hopefully I'll start to update more frequently.**

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

 **Shimo no ko:** Yeah, people with different personalities that they show in different situations (often due to some traumatic backstory) are my specialty. :) It's kind of annoying because I end up developing even side characters to make them more interesting, and then a story of this length happens. Yep, we're definitely going over the 80k words that young adult novels are supposed to be around in terms of length. :) Yep, Ness is starting to pick up on a bit more, and I need to speed up a lot of Ana's character points since she tends to hide a lot of things about herself. But at the same time, Ana's always determined to see herself in a negative light, so the way she acts even without the mask isn't all that bad. Ah, thanks! :) This story's world is actually something that I would like to improve (making it sorta like irl but sorta not gets tricky quickly), but I might focus a lot of my worldbuilding on Ceres, where the final act will be (spoilers?). But yeah, thanks! :)

 **PKTofuMaster:** Yes, inside jokes indeed. Speaking of which, someone in my hall is talking about starting D&D, so hopefully we can find a better DM than me. :P Lucas only appears in Ness' dreams because Ness is a dreamer, meaning that his spirit can leave his body to visit other people's Magicants. It's not a super important concept and he's not the only one (Morgan from Ceres #2 was a dreamer as well), but it's one of his special powers. :) Not going to play a huge role in this installment, though. Yeah, Ana's one of the characters that I'm pretty happy with. I feel like she resembles my personality more than any other character in this fic (except that she's more aggressive than I am). Yeah, I wanted at least one character to have the anti-Machiavellian views on morality because most of the characters in this universe are pretty pragmatic. And I actually liked Katniss' character in Mockingjay, so that might be why Ness was kinda like that. :P But yes, he's gaining confidence and competence. And we already talked about the religion bit, but basically it's so extreme in this universe because it's such a fringe practice (people were supposed to worship the emperor like you see in imperial Japan and other places), so when the empire fell most people just became atheist by default. The few people who were religious tended towards extremes... just like some of the atheists in our world.

* * *

 _But we have no way to gain control of Fourside if we cannot operate our own country. Right after the empire fell, Scaraba declared itself as an independent nation, but nobody wanted us to go free. Even after taking Persian land, they wanted more from us._

 _So they fought a war with better weapons, more men, and most importantly a number of Ceresian psions who were sympathetic to the Eagleish cause. Scaraba lost and was subjected to Eaglish rule. They took control of our papyrus and limestone, of our iron and honey._

 _I wish I could describe how angry that made my people._

* * *

Jeff stepped out into the streets of Scaraba alongside Ninten and Claus. He wore a cowl that protected him from both identification and the sun's rays. Even though the cloak felt like a jacket in the way that it trapped heat inside, Jeff didn't want to see what would happen to his skin after a day exposed in the Scaraban sun.

Ninten and Claus wore similar outfits, although no amount of concealment could disguise Claus' large body and lumbering steps. Divine Rulers, who allowed a fifteen year-old to be so broad and strong? Because of Claus' intimidating size, he led the group while Jeff and Ninten followed behind.

Even though Jeff scolded himself, he couldn't help but reach for his laser gun whenever he passed someone on the streets. A number of Eagleish officials had been found dead in the streets recently, according to television reports. What would the Scarabans do if they knew that he was Eagleish as well? At least Ninten could protest that he was an American, but even then Jeff didn't know if the Scarabans would believe him.

Still, Jeff stopped himself from putting his finger on the trigger each time. When he had visited the Shard of Ceres just days earlier, he had obtained the knowledge to create and mass produce these weapons. It was his responsibility to make sure that they didn't hurt anyone innocent.

 _Maybe that's why Diana Carpainter was so scared of me making weapons,_ Jeff thought. _With a gun, I feel like I can do anything._

But was that necessarily a bad thing? If Jeff wasn't armed, he would be at a loss in situations where he needed to protect. Tricky, tricky… No wonder the Ceresian government didn't sign grants for people who wanted to develop weapons.

"Hmm?" Claus said. "Any idea what that gathering over there is for?"

He pointed to a mass of Scarabans grouped up in a street around the corner of a clay house. Ninten ran into the street before the three of them could talk it over, prompting Claus to shrug and follow. Jeff sighed and took off after them. He followed behind Claus as they made their way into the crowd. The Scarabans shouted and screamed obscenities at the Eagleish Government, but Jeff couldn't see anyone besides himself who was actually Eagleish. Shoving through a group of already agitated Scarabans earned Jeff's group hard stares and requests to "go the psych away," but eventually they could see what the crowd was looking at.

A half-dozen Scaraban bodies lay in the streets near a whipping post, each one covered with dozens of bloody lashes. Jeff gasped, although the sound was lost to the crowd's roaring. After a minute, four Eagleish soldiers in red and blue uniforms walked through the crowd, presenting blades of hardened steel and stony expressions to the outraged Scarabans. When one of the Scarabans socked an Eagleish guard in the face, the soldier responded by stabbing him through the leg. The screams grew louder.

 _"Things might get messy,"_ Ninten said telepathically. _"I don't think that we should really be here."_

Jeff itched to pull out his laser gun, but who would he shoot at? The Eagleish? The Scarabans? Either one would incite more conflict.

Jeff nodded and ducked out, shoving through the crowd as best he could without annoying the Scaraban protestors. Once he got out, he ran back into the previous street with Ninten and Claus. His ears rung even as the sound grew distant.

"Psych," Ninten said. "I didn't think that things were this bad."

"But what happened?" Jeff said. "Who caused all of this?"

"You Eagleish, probably," Claus said. "These Scarabans are clearly protesting for a reason."

"Oh, I can think of plenty of violent rebellions that were completely uncalled for," Ninten said. "Just ask Ness or Ana about what happened in Dalaam."

Jeff couldn't read Claus' expression because the cloak obscured his face, but his crossed arms indicated that he didn't appreciate Ninten's comment.

"The point is," Jeff said. "We need more background information about this place. If we want to find the Sound Stone, we won't want to cause trouble. That's difficult without knowing what the psych is happening here."

"That's happening," Claus said, pointing back at the protest. "There. Now can we get onto finding your precious artifact?"

"No, Jeff is right," Ninten said. "We'll want to gather information. I don't think that we can find the Sound Stone on our own."

"So where do we go?" Claus asked. "It's not like we can just read a book and automatically know everything about Scaraba's history."

"How about we go to the Eagleish base in this city?" Jeff asked.

"Good idea," Ninten said. "I knew before coming to Fiven that this place was at the height of its discontent and protests, but I don't know why."

 _This city is called "Fiven?"_ Jeff thought. _That sounds rather… Eagleish._

"I guess," Claus said. "Anything to get away from this noise."

Jeff heard a pained yelp and saw blood running from around the corner. It was more than just the noise that he wanted to escape.

* * *

Jeff walked through sandy streets and open marketplaces. While he first saw Scaraba as a violent site of conflict, the markets flourished just like anywhere else in the universe. Jeff didn't understand what the people were saying when they bought some cloth or beans, but there was no mistaking the goodwill in their tone or the smiles on their faces. When he looked past the oppression and bitterness, Jeff saw this place as… normal. He didn't know why that surprised him so much.

Jeff eventually arrived at the Eagleish military complex that was made of brick rather than limestone or clay. When Jeff and his friends approached, still wearing cloaks, the Eagleish guards eyed the teenagers carefully and drew their swords. Jeff gritted his teeth, unable to take his eye off of the steel. And if the guard's immediate distrust put Jeff on edge, then what would it do to the Scarabans who lived their entire lives under Eagleland's thumb?

"What are you Scarabans doing here?" one of the guards asked. "You're not welcome here."

 _They're not welcome in their own country?_ Jeff thought.

The sword snapped out of the guard's hand and floated over to Ninten, who snatched it out of the air. The guard's face paled.

"Listen," Ninten said, flipping his hood back. "We don't want to cause any trouble here, but bratty teenage psions despise being talked down to. So it may be in your best interests to smile and nod at whatever we say."

"Yes, sir," the guard managed, his voice little more than a whisper.

"That's not a smile or a nod."

Frantically, the guard bobbed his head up and down while showing his teeth with a smile so fake that it made Claus and Jeff snort in unison.

"That's more like it," Ninten said. "By the way, did I ever tell you what happens when you assume something about a person?"

"Err… no, sir."

"Yes, yes, we get it," Claus said. "It makes an ass out of you and me. Now can you cut the theatrics and get us out of the psyching sun, Ninten?"

"Psions are always welcome," one of the other guards said, regarding Ninten with awe. "Please, follow me inside."

The guard led Jeff's group into the complex, walking stiffly. Jeff wasn't sure if the formality came from respect or habit.

"Now, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Pleasure?" Ninten said. "Did I not make it clear that I am a bratty teenager? You'll be sick of me by the time we leave."

"That's generous," Claus said. To the guard, "If you're not already sick of him, it should set in within a few minutes. I hear that washing your hands helps rid yourself of the disease."

"Do you two always talk like this?" Jeff asked.

"Always is a strong word," Ninten said. Cocking his head, "But basically, yeah."

Jeff sighed. Hadn't they been the ones to encourage moving quickly so that they could find the Sound Stone before Giygas struck?

"We wish to speak with whoever rules here," Jeff said.

"That would be Warden Aniah," the guard said. "I can take you to him."

 _Related to Ana?_ Jeff wondered.

"Does he have any connection to the Ceresian Secretaries of Psionics who were recently killed?" Ninten asked. "I'm friends with their daughter."

"He gets that a lot," the guard said. "A distant relationship, he assumes. Why don't you meet him yourself?"

"That's the plan, yeah," Claus said. "Lead on, nameless guard."

The soldier stiffened even further but complied with Claus' request. Jeff followed him back outside. The military base was indeed a complex, surrounded by walls with most of the ground space outside in the harsh sunlight. Eventually, the guard led the teenagers into an underground bunker. The halls were carved from limestone; perhaps this place had been a mine at some point? Nevertheless, wires carried electric currents down the jagged steps, lighting up bulbs in the hallway.

"It's cooler down here," the guard explained. "Besides, Warden Aniah isn't big on luxury. These simple rooms serve us well."

 _That's a good start, at least,_ Jeff thought.

The guard reached the bottom of the steps and turned right when the hallway branched. He walked past sets of rooms until he reached the last one at the end of the hall, standing aside and motioning for Jeff's group to enter. Ninten walked up and knocked on the door.

"What is it?" came a woman's voice from inside.

"Didn't you mention that Warden Aniah is a 'he'?" Claus said.

"Yeah," the guard said, furrowing his eyebrows. "I don't know why the Warden's wife would be in his rooms…"

"Oh, I'm just catching up with my son," she said. "Come back in a few hours and my husband should be here."

"I think that this still works," Ninten said. "She should know what's going on here."

"I'm sorry," the woman said. "But that isn't a suggestion. You will come back lat-"

Claus opened the door, revealing a precisely carved room furnished by a desk and a few paintings. Inside the room stood the woman, who now regarded Claus with a scowl, and her son, who looked a little older than Jeff.

"Guard!" the woman said. "Why did you even let such rude guests into the complex?"

"See?" Claus whispered into the guard's ear. "You're just another nameless guard. Indistinguishable from the others. And eventually, that's all you'll become."

"Claus, stop giving the poor man a heart attack," Ninten said. Facing the woman, "I apologize for my friend here. He's not good for much besides hitting things, I'm afraid."

Claus snorted.

"Leave," the woman said in a tone that brooked no argument.

"I've had enough," Jeff said, stepping inside the room. "We are not your enemies, nor do we come here to bug you. My friends are Ceresian psions who wish to evaluate the situation in Scaraba and see what we can do to help."

"I can verify that the one with the black hair is a psion," the guard added.

"Psions?" the woman said, the sternness vanishing from her face. "Why didn't you say so earlier? It's an honor to have you here. Please, come in."

 _"You're no fun,"_ Ninten said telepathically. _"I was hoping to provoke her into saying something really nasty about us before dropping the truth. Think of how much fun that would have been!"_

Jeff rolled his eyes.

"Oh, where are my manners?" the woman asked. "I'm Jayla Aniah, and this is my son. His real name is Lucian, but he goes by Orange Kid."

Orange Kid waved hello, examining Ninten and Claus while ignoring Jeff entirely.

"Thank you for your warm welcome," Ninten said, staring straight at Jayla with a piercing smile.

Jayla smoothed out her dress.

"Ah, yes," she said. "My pleasure. Now, what do you wish to speak with me about?"

"The conflict here in Scaraba," Jeff said. "I'll put it bluntly, Mrs. Aniah. Reports say that the tension is getting worse. They say that Scaraba is on the verge of a rebellion."

"Those rumors are quite unfounded, let me assure you," Jayla said. "Things here have never been better!"

"Then why did we see six Scaraban men who had been whipped to death?" Jeff asked, his voice dangerously soft.

Jayla shot him a glare that said, _What are you doing asking me these questions? You're not the psion here._

"A few bad apples," Jayla said. "That's all it is."

"The Scarabans or your men?" Ninten asked.

"Ah…" Jayla paced around the room. "I think that it was misplayed by both ends. The Scaraban barbarians threw rotten food at us, and we deserved to teach them a lesson, but I fault my men for taking it too far." She put on a false smile. "But come on, now. Let's steer away from this dreadful subject."

"Actually," Claus said. "We insist on hearing more about the Scaraban conflict."

"No, _I_ must insist that we move onto something less horrific," Jayla said. "Orange Kid, why don't you tell them about your research?"

"Ah, yes," Orange Kid said. "I am a scientist, you see, even at my age."

 _"Ten gold coins says that he's got nothing on you,"_ Ninten said telepathically.

"Any recent discoveries?" Jeff asked.

"I made a device that can play a song that I composed. It's called 'Ode to Orange Kid.'"

 _"What the psych?"_ Ninten transmitted. _"I've never met anyone so full of himself. You owe me ten gold coins, buddy."_

Jeff shot Ninten a flat stare. He certainly hadn't agreed to that bet.

"But now I'm working on one of the most pivotal questions of our lifetime," Orange Kid said. "How to unboil an egg."

Everyone stood there in silence for a moment. Then, Claus broke out into laughter.

"Good one, kid!" he said. " _Unboil_ an egg?"

Orange Kid sniffed, twitching his lip to form a sneer as he looked at Claus.

"Of course you wouldn't understand, but it's quite possible," Orange Kid said. "I shall crack this mystery."

"Of course it's possible," Ninten said, "But why would you even try? What's wrong with cooked eggs?"

"It's a _scientific_ pursuit," Orange Kid said. "Someone like you wouldn't understand."

"When an egg starts cooking, it's usually easier to deal with a cooked egg than to try and revert it back to its original state," Jeff said, wagging his finger. "After all, science is all about making improvements, right? I would call a boiled egg an improvement over a raw one."

"Yes," Claus said in a falsely haughty voice. "Accept that your egg has changed, and move on. You still cling to your past."

 _Leave it to Claus to turn something basic into a philosophical metaphor,_ Jeff thought, rolling his eyes.

"Warden Aniah!" a guard shouted, bursting into the room. "The Scarabans are attacking our base! They've already infiltrated the military complex…"

The guard trailed off, realizing that the Warden wasn't present.

"And now we have another egg boiling," Ninten said, "In the form of an uprising. It might not be worth trying to unboil this one, either."

"Glad that _somebody_ understands my genius," Claus said. After a pause, "But we should seriously see what's happening."

"Yeah," Jeff said, putting a hand on his laser gun. "Let's go."

* * *

Jeff shouldn't have been surprised at how quickly Ness and Claus drew their weapons and bursted out the door. After all, they had both undergone many near-death experiences. Still, he was amazed at how quickly they could jump into a task that might very well be their last. Were they reassured and comforted by their psionic aura that would let them survive several normally fatal attacks without a scratch? Perhaps, but Jeff had enchanted his armor earlier to provide the same defensive benefit, and he still nearly went into a panic attack when contemplating this battle.

Jeff followed Ninten and Claus through the hallways. A group of Scaraban soldiers bursted out from around the corner, wearing thin turbans and carrying curved swords.

"What is the meaning of this?" Jeff shouted. "Why do you attack the Eagleish base now? How did you even get in?"

The Scaraban warriors charged, ignoring Jeff's question. Ninten and Claus parried attacks and slashed back. Considering that each psion was basically a compact army, the Scaraban soldiers held up surprisingly well, not taking a single blow from Ninten or Claus.

 _I created advanced weapons for situations like this,_ Jeff thought. _I've hit behind my friends for too long. Now it's my time to fight._

Jeff whipped his laser gun out and pointed it at a Scaraban soldier. His hand shook as he gripped the trigger. Could he really end someone's life so easily? Who had let him get away with this? Is this how all psions felt when they entered battle with the power of the stars at their command?

 _Well, I can't turn back now,_ Jeff thought.

He pulled the trigger, firing a laser that took a soldier in the chest. The recipient of Jeff's laser bolt collapsed to the ground, dropping his sword. One look at his glassy eyes told Jeff that he was dead. The laser gun continued to quake in his hand. The other soldiers regarded Jeff like they would a demon, shouting something that Jeff couldn't understand in what he assumed was Persian.

"Go away!" Jeff shouted. "I don't want to kill any more of you!"

Either the soldiers couldn't understand him or they didn't care. They redoubled their offensive against Claus and Ninten. Jeff's heart pounded in his chest. The guilt he felt at taking someone's life stung, but he couldn't let these men hurt his friends.

Jeff fired two more lasers, dropping the other two soldiers. The remaining Scarabans turned around and dashed away.

"Psych," Claus said. "Hardly seems fair. Kill someone with the press of a button."

"And how is that different from a psion summoning a storm of fire with the flick of a wrist?" Ninten asked. "But if everyone gains access to technology that gives them the destructive force of a psion…"

Ninten bent down and took pulses for all three soldiers that Jeff shot.

"Dead," he said. "That gun really does its work. Where did you get it?"

"I made it," Jeff said, "With instructions from the Shard of Ceres."

Ninten's eyes lit up.

"So the Shard is real?" he asked. "I mean, I know it's real, but the Shard really can give you knowledge like that?"

"I hate to cut you two off in your nerd chat," Claus said. "But we're still in the middle of an invasion here. Let's talk later."

Ninten nodded, although the zoned-out look in his eyes made Jeff suspect that he was still thinking about the Shard. Claus rounded the corner and started climbing the stairs out of the bunker. Ninten followed, and Jeff was more than happy to round out the rear. Climbing up the stairs, Jeff started to get a view of the area outside the bunker.

It was about what he expected. Red blood on red bricks. Corpses scattered around, some brutally crushed or sliced into multiple parts on both sides. Many bore the red and blue uniforms that marked the Eagleish.

When he climbed up the last step of the bunker, he realized that they were surrounded by Scaraban soldiers. However, the person who commanded Jeff's attention was a woman whose hair was covered up by some sort of scarf. She studied Jeff's group intently, holding a hand up to stop the soldiers from attacking.

"You two are psions, yes?" she asked in an accented voice. "The red haired and the black. That would make you Ceresians?"

"Right," Ninten said. "And even before our education, I came from America and he came from Aphrodite."

The woman's posture relaxed slightly, although she didn't soften her gaze.

"So you have no role in this conflict, yes?" She asked. "Matters of Eagleland and Scaraba should not matter to Ceresians."

 _She knows,_ Jeff thought. _She knows just how much damage two psions can do to her army. I bet she'll do anything to get us out of here peacefully._

"I don't know about this," Claus said. "We may not be Eagleish, but we don't support all of this violence."

The Scaraban soldiers grumbled and took steps closer to Claus, sneering and jeering at him. The woman raised a hand to halt the warriors, silencing them.

Another person darted out from the central building, carrying a severed head. A cloak obscured all of her features.

"Zanine," the new arrival to the Scaraban woman. "All of the Eagleish soldiers surrendered once I showed them the Warden's head. There is nobody left to contest our power here."

"Look in front of you," the woman said, gesturing towards Jeff's group.

"Oh, I can deal with them," the cloaked girl said.

"You can?" Claus said, pointing his sword at her. "What makes you so sure?"

"I meant 'deal' as in negotiate," the girl said, placing her hands on her hips. "As for the reason why I'm confident…"

The girl flipped up the hood of her cloak, revealing her face with its unmistakable pink hair and wolfish smile.

"Kumatora," Jeff said, looking at the girl in wonder. "So _this_ is where you've been."


	5. Chapter 4: Parting ways

**Hey, everyone! I know that it's been a while since I posted, but here I am again. :)**

 **I promise that I'll start picking up my upload speed, and I have a pretty good reason for why I'm confident about keeping that promise...**

 **You see, I finished** ** _all_** **of the rough drafts for Ceres 3.**

 **As usual, it came out longer than I expected. I just hope that it follows through with all of your expectations. :) This chapter's a Ninten POV and again it's not one of my favorites, but I think that there are some decent moments in there. And there's another Earthbound cameo in this chapter that didn't turn out as boring as Orange Kid... at least in my opinion. :)**

 **So anyways,** **how frequently do you want me to update?** **If you care at all, please comment in a review. My current thought is twice a week so that I can get this story wrapped up before the summer (because honestly, it might take that long to edit and post all of the chapters), but if you don't think that you can keep up I'm open to suggestions. **

**As always, reviews are more than welcome and thank you for all of the support! :) I really admire anyone who's gotten this far through my series of stories haha.**

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

 **Shimo no ko:** Yes, story progression is something that I'm aiming for this time around. :) Yeah, I like to kill of some characters just to introduce others (in this case, I wanted Zanine and the Scaraban resistance to seem like a real threat). Uh, yeah, there was attempted foreshadowing. I'm not always the best at following through with my hints, so we'll see where that goes (remember the thing way long ago in book one about Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire? She finally makes an appearance in this fic). Ah, I'm glad that you liked Claus' extended metaphor because I honestly felt like it fell a little flat. And yeah, it's easy to forget characters in this story, huh? I guess I'll have to kill off more so that you can remember the ones left. :D

And yeah, I have a loose plan to write Ceres as an actual novel (set in a larger universe with other works) but with fewer characters. I would probably combine Ana's and Ninten's characters, for example, and I would probably also combine Ness' and Jeff's (Jeff isn't super interesting on an emotional level and Ness isn't super interesting based on what he can actually _do_ ). But yeah, I probably wouldn't write that for a while and many of my anticipated projects kind of slip through my fingers. See you! :)

 **A Fan:** Yeah, you're fine for now. We'll see how quickly people want me to update. :) And whoops; that sucks. :( For future reference, I would still love to hear your comments on future chapters! Yeah, Ana's not quite as secure as she would like people to believe, and she has her little ways of attracting attention (don't we all?). She probably doesn't even consciously realize that she's doing it. Nope, Fassad is not there because Claus pulled the knife out of Lucas' body. Now Fassad's spirit is trapped in one of the three knives, while Mary and Hinawa are trapped in the others (yeah, there are a lot of details that you have to remember D:). And yep, I don't always try to advance the plot with my scenes. I try to create scenes that further two of the following: plot, setting, and character. With that scene, I wanted to develop more about Ana's character as someone who wears personalities like masks while portraying Fourside as basically this universe's equivalent of New York City. And yeah, Ness isn't the most eloquent speaker. :) And yes, poor janitor indeed. I'll see you later! :D

* * *

 _Angry people have a habit of being stupid._

 _I don't know what my mother Zanine was thinking when she took over Fiven like that. Yes, Scaraba was oppressed. Yes, we needed to do something. But military revolutions rarely work, and more rarely still do they lead into eras of peace afterwards._

 _Perhaps she was drunk on power. I've seen it happen to better people._

* * *

Ninten followed Kumatora and the woman that she called Zanine as they marched into the Eagleish headquarters.

"How did you get over to Scaraba of all places?" Ninten asked. "Shouldn't you still be in school on Ceres?"

"Ah, psych school," Kumatora said. "Psych learning. Besides, this is our break. We should be able to do whatever we want."

 _Ah, the classic rebellious attitude,_ Ninten thought. _Let's hope it goes no further than that._

"So when Juno Monotoli kidnapped you…" Jeff said.

"I escaped," Kumatora said with a wolfish grin. "Again."

"I do not wish to intrude," Zanine said, "But it appears that you have an interesting past to share. Perhaps we could all benefit from hearing what you have to say."

Ninten listened intently as Kumatora recounted her memories. She explained living on the planet of Aphrodite and fighting against the pigmasks, followed by an account of what happened after she and Jeff parted ways outside the chimera lab. She claimed that she had been captured and "escaped" from her kidnapper, but as far as Jeff could tell she essentially got rescued by Diana Carpainter.

"So you have all of your memories back?" Ninten asked.

"Not the ones before my time living in the Osohe Caslte," Kumatora said. "It seems like I just… appeared there. I was a child rather than an infant and I didn't have any parents, so I assume that I came from somewhere else. I picked up the language and a couple of days and tried to fit in after that."

"How did you pick up a language in a couple of _days?_ " Claus asked.

"That is because I am not a human like you," Kumatora said with a knowing smile.

 _What could she possibly mean by that?_ Ninten wondered. Claus' raised eyebrow indicated equal confusion.

"So you _are_ one of the Osohe?" Jeff asked.

"Wait," Zanine said. "This language is not my first. You don't mean those mythical aliens who supposedly died off millennia ago, do you?"

"He does," Kumatora said. "And I am one of them."

"I do confess that you picked up Persian rather quickly," Zanine said. "And your psionics are different to my senses than anyone else's. Some of my followers may see you as an angel, Kumatora."

"And you?" Claus asked.

"I… do not know," Zanine said. "I try to be sure that I know Allah's will before acting."

Ninten arrived at the top room of the headquarters building. Zanine and Kumatora walked in, noting the unconscious bodies of Eagleish soldiers.

"What are you going to do with the prisoners of war?" Jeff asked.

"And the civilians?" Claus added.

"If we don't like your decision," Ninten said. "We'll turn on you and probably take out hundreds of you with us."

"So hostile," Zanine said. "Do all foreigners treat each other that way?"

"Nah, it's just Ninten," Kumatora said. "But he's a good guy." Turning to Ninten, "And so are we. I actually paid attention in history class; I know that mercy goes a long way in boosting popular image and making sure that _our_ civilians don't turn against us."

"And it's the right thing to do," Zanine added. "We need to be better than those who oppress us."

"Right," Kumatora said. "That."

Claus gave Kumatora a hard stare but said nothing.

"So what brings you to Scaraba?" Kumatora asked. "And where is everyone else?"

"Well, Paula's dead," Ninten said, biting back tears, "But considering people that you cared about back on Ceres…"

Kumatora faltered, opening and closing her mouth while blinking rapidly.

"Oh come on, Ninten," Jeff said. "You can dislike someone and still mourn their death."

 _Yeah, I guess he's right,_ Ninten thought. _I can't tell if getting caught up in this revolution is making me cranky or if I'm just a terrible person. Probably a bit of both._

"Poo is off fighting in Dalaam," Claus continued, "Since they had a revolution that just _destroyed_ any semblance of prosperity or joy."

Kumatora turned her gaze on Claus.

"I see," she said, her voice cold.

"Yeah, revolutions are destructive," Claus said. "The Revivalist leader killed Paula and nearly took Ness and Ana with him. Speaking of them, Ness and Ana should be back in Onett right now. I don't know what they plan on doing with their vacation."

"Not all uprisings are aimed at pillaging and raping," Zanine cut in. "I heard what General Kim did to Yazhou and the rest of Dalaam. I can hardly comprehend it myself. Rest assured that we shall not walk down his path. And he's dead now, so hopefully Dalaam will get a chance to rebuild."

"Kim's dead?" Ninten asked. "Where did you hear that from?"

"My son killed him." Zanine cracked a smile. "Life is a lot less stressful with Kim gone, no?"

 _Speak for yourself,_ Ninten thought.

"I don't think you ever answered my question," Kumatora said. "What are you guys doing in Scaraba?"

"Have you ever heard of something called a Sound Stone?" Ninten asked.

Kumatora's eyes narrowed.

"It sounds familiar. Is it an Osohe artifact?"

"It had better be," Ninten said. "Dr. Andonuts told us to find it. He said that it would help us defeat Giygas."

Zanine's mouth tightened for a second before returning to normal. Was that woman trying to hide something?

"Did he say why?" Kumatora asked.

"No, not really. But I trust him."

"I do as well," Jeff added. "That's why I'm here. My dad was a brilliant person, Kumatora. If he thinks that we should go after the Sound Stone, we would do well to listen."

"And it's in Scaraba?" Kumatora asked.

"Somewhere in this area," Claus said. "We hoped that people here would know more."

"You won't have much luck with that," Zanine said. "I run most of the intelligence around here, and I haven't heard it mentioned even in passing."

 _So then why did you react when we mentioned it?_ Ninten thought.

"I think there's a way to find it," Kumatora said. "Since I'm an Osohe, I'm especially attuned to detecting my people's artifacts. If we get closer to this Sound Stone, I should be able to sense it."

"So we just wander around until you detect something?" Claus asked.

"Do you have a better idea?" Kumatora asked.

Claus shrugged. Kumatora sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Does _anyone_ have a better idea?"

Silence.

"All right," she said. "Then let's work from my plan. I have someone who can take us all around Scaraba rather quickly. We can wander around until I detect something; it shouldn't take that long."

"You guys may want to see this," Jeff said, looking out of an arrow hole.

Ninten darted over to another opening in the building and looked out, seeing a number of men in Eagleish uniforms fighting Scaraban soldiers. The Eagleish outnumbered their opponents two to one, and they carried swords made of steel instead of the makeshift spears that most of the Scarabans used.

"Let's go," Kumatora said.

"We don't want to fight the Eagleish," Ninten said.

"You don't have to," Zanine said, striding up and looking out an arrow hole with a deadpan face. "We wish for you to observe only."

"Fine," Ninten said, looking into Zanine's eyes. "But if I get an _inkling_ that you'll pull something funny…"

"You'll attack us or run. Yes, you've made your paranoia quite clear." Zanine frowned. "Let us go. I will not stand by while my countrymen suffer."

"Teleport," Kumatora said.

 _Wait,_ Ninten thought as the world flashed pale around him. _She can use teleport?_

Ninten appeared in an area between two buildings of the complex. Without a shelter to block the sun's rays, Ninten felt his skin heat up and itch. Hopefully this wasn't the start of a sunburn.

In front of him stood the soldiers that he had seen from the arrow hole earlier. The Scaraban soldiers lay strewn across the ground, some clinging to their lives as their blood trickled across the red bricks. In particular, Ninten's attention turned to an Eagleish soldier who was killing an incapacitated soldier by slicing each limb off. The Scaraban on the receiving end groaned and begged for mercy, but the Eagleish soldier took off his other leg and his other arm.

"What the psych are you doing?" Ninten shouted.

The Eagleish soldier looked up at Ninten. He sneered and spat on the bricks.

"Listen, kid," the soldier said. "I don't know who you are, but these Scarabans are our enemies. Look at what they just did!"

The soldier marched over to another wounded Scaraban soldier.

"Please," the Scaraban said. "You defeated me. Please don't-"

The Eagleish soldier raised his sword.

"Mind Thrust," Ninten hissed, aiming his psionic power at the Eagleish soldier.

The soldier went stiff for a moment, his eyes wide open in shock as he gasped for air. He crumpled and collapsed to the ground.

 _I probably killed him with that,_ Ninten thought.

It was quite hard for him to care.

Ninten walked up to the wounded Scaraban soldier and used lifeup, healing the man's wounds. The Scaraban blinked and looked at Ninten in confusion.

"Are you Eagleish?" the Scaraban asked.

"Born in America," Ninten said. "I'm a Ceresian psion. I don't have ties to Eagleland or Scaraba. I just saw the chance to save a life."

The Scaraban dusted himself off and stood up.

"Not even a scratch," he said, looking at the back of his leg in wonder. "Thank you, friend."

"You're welcome," Ninten said. His eyes zipped over to where Zanine and Kumatora were blasting fire at Eaglish soldiers. "Don't waste this second chance. _Someone_ needs to live a happy life around here."

"Uh… yes sir," the Scaraban said.

Claus and Jeff walked over to Ninten. Blood dripped from Claus' sword onto the thirsty bricks below.

"You jumped in too?" Ninten asked, motioning towards the blood.

"I had no idea that Eagleish soldiers were that bad," Jeff whispered. "Killing when they didn't have to. Mutilating. Torturing. Why would someone ever do that?"

"Beats me," Ninten said. "Drunk on power, maybe?"

"Drunk on power and angry," Claus added.

"Or just evil," Kumatora said, walking up. "How did you like the display of Eagleish manners?"

Jeff coughed and fidgeted with his glasses.

"How did you know that they would maim and kill their victims?" Ninten asked.

"Because they always do," Kumatora said. "I've seen it enough times to accept that it's just a fact about those people."

"All Eagleish are evil?" Jeff asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

"Well not _you,_ but all Eagleish soldiers are," Kumatora said.

Jeff balled his hands into fists. He closed his eyes and took a shaky breath, exhaling slowly.

 _Poor kid,_ Ninten thought. _This must be a hundred times worse when it's his country committing the atrocities._

"Well," Kumatora said, "I have to heal more soldiers, since I'm better at it than Zanine is. I'll let her give you the rest of the run-down."

Right on cue, Zanine walked up followed by a half-dozen Scaraban soldiers who eyed Ninten and his friends suspiciously. Kumatora nodded to Zanine before walking away.

"The run-down?" Claus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Stories of the Eagleish committing more atrocities," Zanine said. "I guess she really wants you on our side."

"And you don't?" Ninten said. "You said that you run most of the intelligence for your group. You must know how useful psions are. You probably see your soldiers as tools, and we are the most useful tools of them all."

The Scaraban soldiers conversed in Persian and pointed their spears at Ninten. Zanine motioned for them to back down.

"I see my men as people, Ceresian psion," Zanine said. "Just because your kind does not care about their soldiers doesn't mean that I don't."

"It's not a matter of good or bad," Claus said. "It's simply more practical to see your army in terms of numbers. You can't command an army if you keep worrying about all of the people you might lose."

"You are wrong," Zanine said. "When we care about the lives of our people, it makes us fight harder and lead better. Besides, who said that I commanded this army?"

"What?" Jeff said. "But you seemed like…"

"Leadership in war is not a woman's job," Zanine said.

"And participating in combat is just fine?" Ninten said. "That's an odd standard."

"I only fight because I can blast from afar," Zanine said. "I do not battle up close like a man would."

"So who does command this army?" Jeff asked.

"My husband Bahram," Zanine answered. "He gives orders from afar, preferring not to show his face on the battlefield."

"Another psion, then?" Ninten asked. "One with exceptional clairvoyance skills?"

"Believe what you wish." Zanine's smile issued a challenge. "But Kumatora wishes for me to enlighten you about the situation here. I think that I would rather show you than tell you."

"Isn't that what _this_ is?" Ninten asked, gesturing to the gore around him.

"If you think that this is the worst that the Eagleish government does, you are sorely mistaken. Teleport."

Before Ninten could protest, the world around him once again paled out of existence.

* * *

When Ninten first saw the ground, he thought that it was covered with snow. Heaps of white dust lay scattered to the sides. Ninten touched one, expecting to feel the powdery, frigid texture of snow but instead grazing his hand over what felt like chalk. The ground beneath him was a solid white; Ninten bent down to touch it and found it hard as stone. It probably _was_ stone, now that Ninten thought about it.

"Where are we?" Jeff asked, looking at the field of white around him in wonder.

"I know," Zanine said. "It looks unearthly."

"It looks like Winters," Jeff said. Ninten could see the longing in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Zanine asked. "In your place, the ground is white too?"

"Yeah, it's always covered in snow."

"Snow?" Zanine looked confused. "I have not heard that word in your language yet."

"It's when water gets so cold that it turns into little flakes that pile up on the ground," Ninten explained.

"I have a hard time believing that water actually does that," Zanine said. "But if it looks anything like this…"

"This is limestone, right?" Claus asked. "We used to get find this stuff in Aphrodite sometimes. You know, before Minerva Carpainter nuked it into oblivion."

"Right," Zanine said. "This limestone quarry is one of the biggest in Scaraba. Ah, look. There's a worker over there."

Zanine lead Ninten and the others over to a man cutting limestone with a chisel and a hammer. Perspiration covered his skin as he toiled in the full mercy of the noon sun. He didn't even bother to look up as Zanine approached.

"Limestone is one of the biggest resources that the Eagleish harvest," Zanine said. "But guess who has to do all of the actual stonecutting."

 _Not you,_ Ninten thought.

"Excuse me," Zanine said to the stonecutter. "I'm taking these foreigners on a tour to see how bad working conditions are here. Would you mind answering some questions?"

The man nodded, continuing to hammer his chisel into the stone.

"How much do you get paid?" Jeff asked.

The man stopped his work and looked at Jeff, barely-contained rage hidden behind his eyes.

"We _don't_ get paid," he said. "The Eagleish bastards make us work. They don't give us enough to eat and there's hardly room to sleep our little huts. They hold our children hostage and force themselves upon our wives."

Well then. Ninten had expected conditions in a quarry to be bad, but not _this_ bad. Claus kept a neutral face, but Jeff couldn't restrain himself from gasping.

"That's _horrible!_ " he said. "Why hasn't anyone done something about it?"

"We're trying, remember?" Zanine said. "We aim to free the quarries next."

"I assume that quite a few people die from sunstroke?" Claus said. "And that your supervisors don't give a psych?"

"Same as always," the stonecutter said. "I lost a lot of friends to this cursed limestone."

"This is almost Vulcan-level bad," Claus said. "Let's verify this with some of the other workers here."

"You think I set this all up?" Zanine said.

"I've seen more complicated plans," Claus said, "And ones with worse intentions."

"Fair enough," Zanine said. "It is not my job to direct you everywhere, after all."

Ninten and Claus wandered around and surveyed more workers while Jeff remained silent, taking in all of the information like a sponge. The first worker's account proved to be fairly representative; most stonecutters reported that they were basically treated like slaves. They even met multiple children far younger than themselves; the youngest one said that he was eight years old.

"Is this proof enough?" Zanine asked.

"Yeah," Claus said. "I'm not really surprised, to be honest."

"Really? Because your friend here is at a loss for words."

"I… can still talk," Jeff said. "But I had no idea what I was in for. Those people looked so _empty._ It felt like nothing in the universe has the power to make them happy. They'll just shrug and keep on cutting stones."

"That's how it is on Vulcan," Claus said. "Except there, the conditions are even worse and the air is so toxic that most people die of lung cancer before reaching middle age."

"Divine Rulers!" Jeff exclaimed. "Why is there so much pain in this universe?"

"Let's head back to Kumatora," Ninten said. "I think that we need to discuss her plan."

"Ah, to find your artifact?" Zanine asked. "After you obtain it, will you come back and help us fight against all of this injustice? We could really use a couple more psions."

"I'll think about it," Ninten said. "But thanks for showing me this. I needed to see it."

Ninten registered a flash of surprise in Zanine's eyes. Then it was gone as quickly as it came. Zanine smiled and put a hand on Ninten's shoulder, and the approval in her twinkling eyes was more than Ninten had ever received from either of his parents.

"I in turn must thank you for appreciating it," Zanine said. "It takes someone brave to see this universe for what it really is instead of blocking all the voices out."

"Not someone brave," Ninten said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Someone who's already broken."

* * *

Zanine teleported Ninten's group back to the Eagleish government complex in Scaraba. She and Kumatora talked in hushed voices before Zanine left and Kumatora approached the rest of the teenagers.

"I heard that Zanine took you on a trip to the quarry," Kumatora said. "That was the first place she showed me as well. Beautiful, is it not?"

"And deadly, apparently," Jeff said, his voice teetering on the edge. "Why did I not hear of this all throughout my education in Eagleland?"

"That is exactly what we aim to do," Kumatora said. "If we can draw more attention to Scaraba, the rest of the world won't be able to ignore our struggles."

 _Oh, is it "our" struggles now?_ Ninten thought. _And why would you draw attention to yourself as an enemy? I'm sure that the Eagleish government will drop propaganda on their citizens labeling the Scarabans as savages._

"I want to help," Jeff said. "I've never seen such a horrible place in my life."

"You mean the limestone quarries?" Ninten said. "The universe has much worse locations to offer."

"So that makes the Scaraban workers okay?" Jeff demanded, his eyes wild with rage that he didn't know how to direct. "Just because there are worse fates means that we shouldn't help here?"

"I never said that."

"Let's worry about it later," Kumatora said. "Zanine has the situation under control."

 _Does she?_ Ninten thought. _But she isn't even the leader. What about her husband?_

"For now," Kumatora continued, "We should work on finding the Sound Stone. Any tool that helps us defeat Giygas could save thousands of lives."

 _Or destroy them,_ Ninten added in his mind.

"You mentioned a way to get around," Claus said. "Are we going to travel by boat?"

Kumatora cracked a smile.

"No," she said. "I have something else entirely in mind."

"I don't want to go with you," Jeff said, his voice soft yet strained.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"I'm staying," Jeff said. "How helpful do you think I'll be if I go with you? If I stay here, I can work with Zanine and produce more weapons and enchanted armor for the Scarabans. I could make a real difference."

Jeff crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look confident. But underneath his glasses and behind his eyes, Ninten glimpsed specks of desperation. For someone who had spent the last few months being overshadowed by psions, the opportunity to do something on his own must have pushed Jeff to the last of his willpower.

"That's fine with me," Kumatora said.

"I'll stay behind too," Claus said.

"Hmm?" Kumatora asked. "The Scarabans probably don't need a psychic warrior. They have plenty of soldiers already."

"I'm not staying because they need me," Claus said, staring Kumatora down. "I'll be there to keep an eye on them."

"Oh?" Kumatora asked, rising to the challenge. "And what makes you qualified to do so?"

"This is my choice," Claus said, "And you don't hold enough power over me to say any different."

"Can we be… I don't know, a little less aggressive?" Ninten asked. "Nobody's going to hurt each other."

"Kumatora would kill me in a heartbeat if it served her purposes," Claus said. "At least _this_ Kumatora."

"What do you mean by that?" Kumatora asked, miniature fires dancing around her hands.

"Something about the look in your eyes," Claus said with a shrug. "You won't let anyone stop you, no matter what it takes. It reminds me of how you acted when I first met you while we were fighting pigmasks."

"Is that a bad thing?" Kumatora asked. "To have a goal and stick to it?"

"If I had stuck to my goal right now, I'd be dead," Claus said. "And a lot of innocent people would have died with me."

"Guys!" Jeff said. "Cut it out. Why do you to have to argue so much?"

"This is nothing new," Claus said. "We were both hotheaded and stupid back on Aphrodite. She has a habit of bringing out the worst in me." He smirked. "But since she's going and I'm not, you won't have to worry about this for much longer."

"So why do you want to stay?" Jeff asked. "Can't you see that the Scarabans are right to fight for their freedom?"

"They scare me," Claus said. "Yes, they're right. But they're angry and you're giving them destructive technology. How do you think that will end?"

"You think they'll end up like the Dalaamian rebels that sacked Yazhou?" Kumatora asked.

Ninten didn't react outwardly, but Kumatora's words hit him like an arrow through the chest. The Dalaamian rebel leader Kim See-Yoon killed Paula along with countless others. And if Ninten could feel this much for Paula, surely others felt the same pain for all of the snuffed out lives that he didn't even know about.

"I think they'll end up like the pigmasks," Claus said.

Kumatora barked a laugh.

"The pigmasks were evil!" she said. "Vicious!"

"Everyone has the potential to be evil and vicious," Claus said. "You just have to give them a sword. And Jeff is giving them one psych of a weapon with the technology that he's creating."

"Fine," Kumatora said. "Stay. But these people will show you that they can restrain themselves. They won't raze villages and torture innocents."

"I hope you're right," Claus said, smiling back to meet her challenge. "Have a nice trip around Scaraba."

 _So I'm stuck with Kumatora,_ Ninten thought. _Why do I get the feeling that this was a terrible mistake?_

"Thanks," Kumatora said flatly. Turning to Ninten, "You ready to go?"

"I guess." Ninten shrugged. "Is there no way that you two can at least pretend that you like each other?"

Amazingly, Claus and Kumatora both backed down, taking a step back and relaxing their muscles.

"I guess you're right," Kumatora muttered. "We're all on the same side, after all. See you two later." She waved goodbye to Claus and Jeff. "Teleport."

As the world paled around Ninten, he waved goodbye as well. Jeff gave a sheepish grin and Claus offered a curt nod.

Ninten hoped that they would all live long enough to see each other again.

* * *

The heat of the sun once again struck Ninten in full force. He flipped up the hood of his cloak to keep the rays off his skin and out of his eyes as he looked up at the massive structure in front of him. It looked like a massive mech suit from the movies, but it was made of stone rather than steel. Ninten craned his neck to look at patches of green that lay well out of his reach. He identified them as vines, which could attest to the statue's age.

 _Wait a minute._

Vines on a statue in the middle of the psyching desert? But that meant its natural location was somewhere else. And for a statute to normally be elsewhere…

"Kumatora," Ninten said. "Don't tell me that thing can move."

"You figured it out that quickly?" Kumatora said. "You're smarter than you look."

"I told you _not_ to tell me."

"And technically, I didn't." Kumatora flashed a grin. "But it's massive, huh? It must weigh tons, literally. It probably takes stupid amounts of psionic energy to power. But I guess when you're rich and bored, energy costs don't really matter."

"Who built this?" Ninten asked.

"A man who calls himself Brick Road. He's inside of that… thing. I'll teleport us up there since he keeps wild animals roaming in the lower levels."

Ninten raised an eyebrow.

"I know," Kumatora said. "He's a little nutty, but I promise that he can help us. I've been in that statue, and it moves surprisingly fast. We'll find the Sound Stone in no time."

"If you say so…"

"I do. Teleport."

The world once again paled and faded around Ninten. This time, he found himself standing within a fortress of stone. The walls and floors were too smooth to be natural but were too rough to indicate that the statue's creator really cared about orderly design. Ninten turned around and saw a face sticking through the stone wall.

"Aaah!" Ninten said. "Who are you?"

"That is what I should be asking, I think," the person said. "You just _appeared_ inside of me. Where are your manners?"

"Inside of _you?_ " Ninten asked.

 _"This guy's a nutjob, remember?"_ Kumatora transmitted telepathically. Ninten looked to the right to see her wearing a neutral expression. _"He considers this structure to be part of himself. The person's name is Brick Road, but the person and the structure combined are called the Dungeon Man."_

"Ah, Kumatora told me all about you!" Ninten said, putting on a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Brick Road."

"And you are…?"

"Ninten."

"Ah. Andonuts' something or other relative. I worked closely with him, you know."

"I'm sorry, but he's dead."

Brick Road gave Ninten a strange look.

"Of course I know that," he said. "Do you think I live under a rock or something?"

 _Well, you do live inside of a rock,_ Ninten thought.

"We need you to help us," Kumatora said. "We're looking for something important, something that I can sense. Can you just… wander around while I point you in directions?"

"Sure," Brick Road said. "Not like I got anything better to do. But seriously, the nerve of you youngsters today! To think that I wouldn't know what was going on with my best friend."

 _Well, you didn't do much to help him,_ Ninten thought. _It's kind of a warning sign when someone isolates themselves and professes insanity._

Ninten gritted his teeth, remembering what Ness told him about the fate of all mystics. But then again, Ninten hadn't received a vision in a while, so maybe he wouldn't develop schizophrenia like the rest of them.

"Well," Kumatora said. "Here we go."

* * *

Ninten sat inside of the Dungeon Man while Kumatora directed Brick Road around for… hours? Days? It felt like months. He slept multiple times, but without being able to look out at the sun he couldn't tell how long he was out.

 _This is just like being stuck in that Vulcanese mine,_ Ninten thought. _Except the air won't give me lung cancer and I'm not going to starve. Okay, maybe it's nothing at all like that mine._

Still, Ninten was so desperate for something to do that he fashioned random objects out of ectoplasm, a gooey substance that he could pull from the psionic realm. He dripped little blobs of the stuff on the ground and solidified them when he liked how it looked, forming little abstract sculptures of hardened goo bubbles. He collected dozens and arranged them in neat little rows.

After an eternity, Brick Road poked his head out of the wall and sighed.

"I can't take you any further," he said.

"Why not?" Kumatora asked. "I can sense the Sound Stone straight ahead."

"Because we've hit Deep Darkness."

"Let's see," Kumatora said. "Teleport."

Ninten appeared at the edge of a desert overlooking a river. On the other side stood a forest so dense that Ninten could hardly see through the first line of trees.

"Yeah, I can definitely sense the Sound Stone over there," Kumatora said. "And now that I can see the marsh, I can just teleport over there. Thanks for your help, Brick Road!"

The Dungeon Man didn't respond. Ninten wondered if he had any way of communicating to someone outside the statue mech.

"I don't know if he can hear us," Kumatora muttered. "Are you ready, Ninten?"

"Ready to go in _there?_ "

"What, are you scared?"

"There's too much life." Ninten curled his upper lip. "Who knows all of the nasty diseases and animals that we'll have to deal with?"

"We're psions." Kumatora rolled her eyes. "Get over it."

"Technically, I'm a psion and you're a wilder…"

"Teleport," Kumatora said, cutting Ninten off.

Ninten took a deep breath as the world faded around him. He didn't want to say the real reason why he didn't want to go over into the Deep Darkness. He knew that he would never be able to find his way out, and he couldn't teleport like Kumatora could.

If either of them did something stupid and they got separated, there was no doubt in Ninten's mind that he would wander through the marshes for weeks before dying alone.


	6. Chapter 5: Egypt and Scaraba

**Hey, everyone! I hope that you're all doing well this weekend. I'm actually writing this on Friday, so if there's anything monumental that happened between then and now, don't expect me to mention it. :)**

 **This chapter, we're getting back into Ness' PoV. Personally, I feel like this chapter is a bit stronger than previous chapters were, but I guess I'll leave you guys to be the judges. The first act of this story is going to take place largely in Scaraba, so I hope that you get used to it. :)**

 **I don't have a whole lot else to say right now... although if anyone else wants to do novel write November, hit me up. :) I'm probably going to give it a try since I'm done with the rough drafts for this story. The website even gives you the option to write fanfics (even though that's not what I'll be doing).**

 **As for updating, I think that I'm just going to post whenever unless someone has a preference for me posting on specific dates.**

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

 **Shimo no ko:** Yeah, it's hard to find time to fit Kumatora into the plot, so she does change a bit after being absent for 100k words or so of the plot. :) Yep, that's going to be a major focus of this part in the story. The Eagleish are doing terrible things, but revolutions like Zanine's usually don't end well. Before long, you'll start to see characters take more definitive sides. And as the saying goes, "Power attracts power." So we may start to see Scaraba become quite the contested location... but I shouldn't give away too much now. :) And yes, the husband bit seems rather suspicious, doesn't it? There's a bit more info this chapter, although it may or may not answer your question. Yes, her son Darius is different from her husband (no Oedipus stuff here), and Darius was the one who killed General Kim. See you later! :D

* * *

 _It is easy to forget that we were not the first ones here._

 _The Empire of old masked it so well. This place is called Scaraba, right? Such an arbitrary name. So unassuming and docile. Scaraba used to be called something else that reveals far more revealing about its history:_

 _Egypt._

 _You see, the ancient Egyptian civilization was quite advanced for its time. They built the pyramids in Scaraba, not us Persians. But there aren't any Egyptians left in Scaraba today, which brings up the question of where they went all those centuries ago when we moved in._

 _They went straight to their graves._

 _About 1200 years ago, the Empire orchestrated a genocide, killing of the vast majority of Egypt's population. They proceeded to force us Persians into Egypt, which they renamed to Scaraba._

 _Nobody to this day knows why the genocide happened._

* * *

Ness stood behind Ana outside the door to Governor Pirkle's office. Ana took a deep breath, grabbing the doorknob. Her hand twitched. Before, Ness wouldn't have noticed such a subtle sign of fear, but after reading Lloyd's letter about the insecurities that Ana hid behind her smiles, Ness started to pick up on more signs of distress.

"It's okay, Ana," Ness said. "I'm scared of him too."

Ana gripped the doorknob until her knuckles turned white, smiling sadly.

"It's not really him that I'm afraid of," Ana said. "He can't hurt us. But what he can do with his army… I promised that we would come with him to Scaraba, but I don't know what we're getting into. What would I do if the Scarabans see the Eagleish fleet and attack?"

"You'll come up with something," Ness said.

"My solutions to problems don't always turn out so well," Ana said. "At best, they delay the problem at hand." Ana flung the door open, revealing B. H. Pirkle's office. "But there's no use in complaining now."

Pirkle looked up from the papers on his desk, clasping his hands in a businesslike manner.

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit," Ana said. "You heard every word that we spoke. I'm running low on patience today, Pirkle."

Two security guards standing inside of the room drew their swords. Pirkle motioned for them to back down.

"Have it your way," Pirkle said, throwing his hands up into the air. "I'll get straight to the point. Have you heard the news?"

"That General Kim of Dalaam was killed by his own son? Psych, yeah. Ness and I were celebrating last night."

Well, Ana had celebrated. Any mention of the Dalaamian General nearly pushed Ness to tears. He couldn't stop thinking about Paula. Every night in his dreams, he saw the blood gushing out of slash in her throat. In some dreams, the blood made a puddle that kept rising until it drowned Ness. He could nearly taste the ferrous blood in the back of his mouth.

"Ah, yes," Pirkle said. "Congratulations."

"To me?" Ana asked. "I didn't do anything."

"You care." Pirkle smiled. "That's more than most people in Eagleland can do."

 _Yeah, including you,_ Ness thought.

"But that was not what I meant," Pirkle said. "Which means that you probably haven't heard about it. I guess we're doing a better job of keeping the whispers down than we expected."

"Tell us," Ana said.

"Ah, but this is _classified information._ I can't go around telling it to everyone. But if you were to join the military, say, then I would have good reason to let you know."

"…Psych," Ana said.

"It's a tough choice, isn't it?" Pirkle asked. "I understand."

"Not that," Ana said. "You have an enchantment that stops me from reading your mind."

Ness bit his lip. To him, reading someone else's mind seemed like the most extreme invasion of privacy possible. He knew that Ana wanted to help, but couldn't she see that it just wasn't right to snoop around in other people's thoughts?

"Oh," Pirkle said. A smug smile popped onto his face. "Yes, most politicians wear special charms to block telepathy abilities. Mine cost a fortune; I'm glad that it finally came in handy. So what do you say?" Pirkle extended his hand. "Lend me your aid and I'll tell you everything that you need to know."

"You must be a novice at this," Ana said. "Psions are like cacti. Prod too much and you might just get stabbed. I'm the one dictating the terms here, remember? If you don't give the information that I need to make an informed decision about the issue of Scaraba, I won't even consider your side."

"Ah, but I can still draft your boyfriend into my army. If he resists, I can call down Ceres to enforce my laws."

A shiver ran down Ness' spine. Pirkle wouldn't _actually_ force him to fight anyone, right?

"Ceres doesn't give a psych about Eagleland," Ana said. "I could kill you right now and prop up someone more favorable. You're here on _my_ bratty whims, governor."

The security guards drew their swords and stepped up to Ana. It didn't take someone as perceptive as Ana to realize that they weren't used to watching their ruler take direct insults.

"Guards, back down!" Pirkle said. "You're only making things worse."

Hesitantly, the guards stepped back and sheathed their swords.

"Thank you," Pirkle said, his voice taught with disapproval. "I think you've made a mistake in this one, Miss Aniah. I won't back down, and I'm not as replaceable as you think. If you kill me, Eagleland falls into chaos. I'll bet you can guess how my guards would react to you trying to instate another governor. You'd have another war on your hands!"

"Governor Pirkle," Ness said. "Why can't you just tell us? If you think that it's as important to us as it actually is, the news might convince us to take your side. I assume that it has to do with the Scaraban conflict."

"It does." Pirkle cocked his head back and forth, looking at the ceiling. "Yeah, I guess you have a point. I'll tell you, so long as you promise to keep it under wraps. This might be what we need to get you on our side for real."

 _"Nice job,"_ Ana said telepathically. _"I guess your way is sometimes better than using brute force."_

Ness smiled. Compliments from Ana weren't exactly rare, but he enjoyed each one nonetheless.

"There's been an armed uprising," Pirkle said. "The Scarabans took over the Eagleish military complex in Fiven, which is our main presence in Scaraba. They claimed to have killed Warden Aniah, but he was the one who sent this report from hiding. Apparently, they cut off the head of someone who looks like him and mounted it on the walls as 'proof'."

Ness looked at Ana. Was the Warden of Scaraba one of her close relatives? After losing her parents, she probably needed some time with family. Ness gleaned no information from her facial expression.

"So how did the Warden let a bunch of civilians storm his base?" Ana asked.

"These 'civilians' were armed with spears and swords," Pirkle said. "But most importantly, the Scarabans have a pair of psionics-users on their side. Reports say that their leader Bahram is a psion, but I suspect that his wife Zanine is the real one with the powers."

"Makes sense," Ana said. "Scarabans tend to have stricter gender roles than Eagleish do. A woman on the battlefield blasting enemies with psionics might not go over well, so she might have to pretend like it's her husband doing the work."

"The second psionics-user," Pirkle continued, "Is a wilder who nobody knows anything about. Warden Aniah said that she spoke with an accent other than Scaraban."

Ness and Ana exchanged a glance. Neither of them had seen Kumatora in some time and she matched the description perfectly. How many wilders were really left out there? A handful at most, Ness guessed. And considering that nobody had seen Kumatora recently…

"That is all," Pirkle said.

"Well, that's certainly news." Ana paused, furrowing her eyebrows. "I don't know what it means for us, though."

"You've studied history," Pirkle said. "When a revolt succeeds and people with no political experience start to rule themselves, how does it usually end?"

"Not well," Ana admitted.

"Exactly," Pirkle said. "It's for them and us that we need to step in."

"For them _and_ us?" Ana asked. "Divine Rulers forbid that the good Eagleish citizens have to pay slightly more for honey."

"Eagleish men are captured, girl," Pirkle said. "Good soldiers rot away in prison cells."

Ness stomach gurgled from nausea; he pictured the war camps on Vulcan in all of their stink and abuse. Would the Eagleish soldiers be treated any better?

"Ana," Ness said. "We should check it out."

"You think so?" Ana asked. "What if this turns into another Dalaam?"

"We almost saved Dalaam," Ness said. "And we stopped Kim's soldiers from killing freely. I think that Paula would have made that trade for her life again if given the chance."

"You should listen to your boyfriend, sweetie," Pirkle said. "He knows what's best for you."

"Oh, now you're just trying to get me pissed," Ana said, "Although I'm not quite sure why, since you want my help. Didn't your mommy ever teach you to suck up to powerful people?"

"That was not quite how she described it, no."

"Well, luckily for you, I have a dampener on my rage," Ana said. "Even though you're a complete piece of shit…" the guards shuffled their feet and glared at Ana. "...I'm not going to back out just to spite you. Ness is right; we should check on this situation."

"Ah, so you'll go with my army?" Pirkle asked, unaffected by Ana's insult.

"Psych, no! We're teleporting over there on our own." Turning to Ness, "Unless you prefer something else?"

"That' fine," Ness said. "We should get there quickly so that we can start helping out."

"In that case…" Pirkle said. "Guards. Bring me Sabu."

"But," one of the guards said. "Governor Pirkle…"

"Did I stutter?" Pirkle asked. "Bring him to me now."

"Yes, of course."

One of the guards marched out of the room while the other remained, watching Ana's movements like a predator.

"I wonder," Ana said. "What was it about this person that made your oh-so-loyal guard object?"

"His existence is something that the government has been trying to cover up for over a thousand years," Pirkle said. "You probably haven't heard of that name before, have you?"

Ness shook his head. Was it a Scaraban name? That would certainly explain the guard's hesitation.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Pirkle asked. "He's an Egyptian."

That word meant nothing to Ness, but the color drained from Ana's face as soon as Pirkle finished.

"You mean some of them _survived_ the genocide?" Ana asked.

"Not so loud," Pirkle said. "Remember, we're trying to keep this quiet."

"What genocide?" Ness asked.

"Scaraba used to be called Egypt," Ana explained, "But the Empire killed of the people there for reasons that only the Divine Rulers know, literally. They then forced the Scarabans, Persians, whatever you want to call them into Scaraba."

"Ah," Ness said. "So that's why the Scarabans don't consider Scaraba to be their true homeland. I guess I never put two and two together."

The guard entered the room dragging a brown-skinned man in chains. The prisoner who Ness assumed was Sabu stared at Pirkle with venomous eyes.

"I assume that he speaks Eagleish?" Ana asked.

"Can't exactly get by without it," Sabu said without a Scaraban accent.

"Right, even in his little village that nobody knows about, everyone speaks Eagleish," Pirkle said. "Didn't your elders tell you never to leave the village bounds, Sabu?"

"You trapped my people inside a prison, Eaglelander," Sabu spat. "And when I escaped, you only took me to a smaller one."

"I would hardly call your village a prison," Pirkle said. "You had everything that you could have wanted. Friends, family…"

"I wanted to explore the world," Sabu said.

"So _this_ is how the government dealt with the survivors of the genocide?" Ana asked. "Stuffing them away in a remote little village so that nobody else would know of their existence?"

"Exactly," Sabu said. "It's a crime."

"Not if the government does it," Pirkle said. "We make the rules, so we get to define what crime means. Keeping you in that village is for your own good."

"I was doing fine for myself in Fiven before the Warden found me," Sabu said. "Fess up, Eaglelander. The only reason you keep us locked up is because you don't want people digging up dirt about what your precious empire did."

"Regardless of my intentions," Pirkle said. "I imagine that you would like to return home."

"More than staying here," Sabu said with a snort. "I think that my guard forgot to give me my morning gruel today. You should cut his pay."

"I am giving you the opportunity to redeem yourself after venturing out," Pirkle said. "If you guide this young man and young lady around Fiven to gather the information that they want, I'll let you go home."

"Not free?" Sabu asked with a low chuckle. "You would upgrade my prison rather than releasing me?"

"That is my offer."

"Fine," Sabu said. "Your cells are rather boring now that I've gotten used to the nastiness. This should be a nice change of pace."

"How do we know that you won't run at the first chance you get?" Ana asked.

 _Why would we mind?_ Ness asked. _He doesn't deserve to be locked up in the first place!_

"Mr. Pirkle over here would probably catch me for a second time and execute me," Sabu said. "That's no fun. The first time I escaped from my village, they wouldn't tell me what the punishment was. Now that I know the rules of the game, I'll stay on the path that you set for me, my lady."

Sabu bowed, although the clanking of chains made the action look significantly less graceful.

"I think that we can trust him," Ness said. "Besides, don't you want to get an innocent person out of prison?"

"I guess," Ana said. "Welcome to the team, Sabu."

Sabu took a long stare at Ness. After a few seconds, Ness started fidgeting with his hands.

"So you actually care about me?" Sabu asked.

"Of course!" Ness said. "It's totally wrong what Pirkle is doing to you."

Sabu closed his eyes, cracking a smile.

"You remind me of better times, kid." Sabu opened his eyes. "Thanks."

"How long _have_ you been stuck in prison?" Ana asked.

"Don't know the exact time," Sabu said. "But I was fifteen when I went in."

So judging by his aged appearance now, at least 20 years locked up. A chill ran down Ness' spine. What if _his_ life had been cut off right now and he was tossed in a cell for 20 years? What would he be like when he came out?

"I'm sorry," Ness said.

"As am I, if that means anything," Ana said. "But we can't afford to waste any more time. Sabu, I'll get you caught up once we get to Scaraba."

"Let me just get someone to strike his irons off and then you'll be on your way," Pirkle said.

Ness looked into Sabu's eyes, expecting to find excitement and hope.

Instead, he only saw a glimpse of wry humor.

* * *

When Ana teleported Ness to an abandoned house in Scaraba, the first thing that he noticed was the heat. The cloak that he bought for this specific trip now seemed unnecessary; how could anyone possibly wear more than they needed to in warmth of the blazing sun?

"Hmm," Sabu said. "So psions do exist. I thought that the whole thing was a hoax."

"Wild, huh?" Ana asked. "Sorry that I had to read your mind to get a good picture of this place. I needed to visualize it to teleport here."

"After what I've been through, you reading my mind is the last of my worries," Sabu said. "Come. Pirkle told me where the Warden is hiding." Sabu's face tightened. "You probably don't need to read my mind to tell that I'm not looking forward to seeing him again."

Ness followed Sabu out of the house and into the streets of Scaraba. He wasn't quite sure what to expect, but he was surprised at both the country's similarities and differences to Eagleland. Part of him expected Scarabans to be almost different types of humans from the way that people always talked about them. But seeing the Scaraban people walking by, Ness immediately revised that assumption.

Most of them carried the same mannerisms as Eagleish or Ceresians, looking back and forth in a paranoid fashion or puffing up their chests to look strong when passing by a stranger. Yet at the same time, they were different in ways that Ness would never have imagined. Most Scaraban men wore baggy pants and a turban, which Ness had never seen on anyone before. They also showed more facial hair than most Eagleish. Even though he knew that fashion choices shouldn't make them seem like entirely different people, he had a hard time of seeing them the same way that he would anyone else.

"Ugh, it's even hotter out here," Ana said. "I want to take this cloak off."

"It does more than hide your features," Sabu said. "A good cloak will protect your skin. The west side of Fiven is an especially hot for urban Scaraba, and the sun shows no mercy. Most people would not be out at noon like us."

"Even though it's December?" Ness said. "How hot does this place get during the summer?"

"Scaraba is so close to the equator that I don't think there's a large difference," Ana said. "So it stays absolutely blistering the entire year."

"We're getting close," Sabu said.

Sabu passed by a large house with a young man standing out front. Tables and plates with food were set out, and a number of Scarabans took the food without paying. The young man was the only one not eating; he wore an easy smile and invited people forward to eat with hand motions and a positive tone of voice.

Even though Ness couldn't understand the Scaraban language, he could tell that this was a charity.

"Food runs short in a city under Eagleland's thumb," Sabu said. "So even though this land is bountiful, we often do not have enough to eat."

"Bountiful?" Ness asked. "Isn't Scaraba a desert?"

"Yes, the west side of Fiven is rather… barren. But the east side is along the Nile. Life is much more pleasant over there. Even over here, the river regulates the temperature somewhat. It's a lot cooler here than it is further inland. You don't see too many people living in the Sahara Desert."

Ness didn't want to think about a place hotter than Fiven.

"Hello," the young man said in Eagleish, smiling and waving. "Would you like something to eat?"

"We're fine, thanks," Ana said, walking up to the tables piled with food. "This is quite impressive. How did you know to address us in Eagleish?"

"It's impressive that I addressed you in Eagleish?" the young man asked. "Ah, but I just got lucky. You seemed hesitant, like you didn't know this place well. I figured that you might be foreigners."

"I meant that this charity of yours is impressive," Ana said. "Hard to go wrong with giving away food, right?"

Ana circled around the tables so that she wouldn't get in the way of people taking food. Ness and Sabu followed her, giving Ness a better look at the young man. From the distance, Ness had identified him as a Scaraban, but now he wasn't sure. His skin was darker than an Eagleish person's but was slightly off from the olive-colored Scaraban skin that Ness had already grown used to seeing. His narrow him look different from most other Scarabans in ways that Ness couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Right, right," the young man said, smiling at Ana. "I'm always glad to help out those who need it."

"That's really nice," Ness said. "I wish that more people in this world were like you."

"This is a product of my environment," the young man said, gesturing at the food. "People who suffer from chronic pains such as hunger either go in two directions. They can see the pain as normal and inflict the same pain on others or they can fight against it with all of their might so nobody else will have to suffer what they did. It's why children with abusive parents either end up becoming abusive themselves or they end up not wanting to harm a mosquito."

"So you give food to those who need it because you were hungry for a time and you know how they feel?" Ana asked.

"Exactly!" the young man said. "I'm glad that I didn't lose you with all of my tangents."

"What's your name?" Ness asked. "I'll want to remember it so I can tell other people about you."

"Not in a bad way, I hope," the young man said with an easygoing smile. "The name's Darius. I know that you don't want food, but is there anything that I can do for you?"

"Actually, we were wondering about the recent events here in Scaraba," Ana said.

"Not very subtle, eh?" Darius asked. "Most people who wish to gather information for their faction poise as foreign merchants. Maybe you should try that next time."

Ana stiffened; Ness could tell that she wasn't used to being bested so easily.

"But I'll tell you," Darius said. "The truth is worth more than any political agenda. I assume you know that we Scarabans have risen up and overthrown the Eagleish?"

Ness and Ana nodded simultaneously.

"Good. You guys did your homework. Do you want the details of the takeover?"

"What happened to the Eagleish soldiers and civilians?" Ana asked.

"Zanine took them prisoner," Darius said with a shrug. "Better than executing them all, I suppose. This isn't like your Vulcan war camps; you can count on prisoners remaining generally healthy."

"I see," Ana said. "What can you tell me about Zanine?"

"That her husband's dead." Darius snorted. "Yet she still pretends that he heads the revolution. She figures that Earth isn't ready for a female leader, and she's probably right."

"I think that's enough," Ana said. "Thanks."

"Hmm?" Darius asked. "You don't want to know more?"

"I can tell that you're making all of your information up," Ana said. "Is that your purpose with this charity? To plant ideas into people's heads?"

Ness bit his lip. He had to admit that Darius' answers were suspiciously specific, but did Ana really have to accuse him of furthering an ulterior motive behind handing out food?

"Ah, planting ideas sounds so _sinister,_ " Darius said. "But essentially, yes."

Ana crossed her arms over her chest. Even though Ness couldn't see her face, he knew that mannerism well enough to picture the smug smile on her face.

"My goal," Darius said, spreading his arms out, "Is to advocate for peace. My people believe that we have to fight the Eagleish head on. They don't realize that righteous aggression gives the rest of the universe a reason to take Eagleland's side. Zanine doesn't know what she's doing by revolting. At best, she'll establish a shaky rule of her own, which might not benefit the people much more than Eagleish rule."

"So what's your plan?" Ana asked.

"I want to resist without fighting," Darius said. "Draw attention. Garner sympathy. Bring out the worst in the Eagleish and spread the message. It's hard, but it worked before. Plus, there my way leaves fewer corpses and no amateurs trying to run a country. I use this station to spread the message, but it hasn't really worked."

"I can tell," Ana said dryly, "Given by the fact that Zanine revolted regardless of your efforts."

"That and most regular people are just too busy being angry to discuss peace," Darius said. "But can you really blame them?"

"No," Ness said. "It must be pretty bad for them. I can't fault anyone for acting out against us like that."

"Funny," Ana said. "Because you're the one person who I know would never act that way even if you were in that situation."

"Just as you say that the universe needs more people like me, I think that the universe needs more people like you, Ness," Darius said.

"How do you know my name?" Ness asked.

"There aren't many psions in the universe," Darius answered with a wink. "And even fewer have made news in the past few years. You survived a mass-murdering cult, my father's Revivalist army-"

"Wait," Ana said. "Did you just say imply that your father is…?"

"See-Yoon Kim, yeah," Darius said. "Killing him was the best decision of my life."

But how could someone kill General Kim so easily? Ness remembered the huge stature and massive strength that Kim used to cut down Paula like a twig. Combined with psionic powers, it made the man nearly unstoppable.

Ness squinted. When he looked hard enough through is psionic senses, he could make out… _something_ in Darius.

"You're a psion too," Ness said.

"Yes, although we don't use the term psion," Darius said. "Well call ourselves augurs like the Romans did. I'm surprised that you could detect my aura, honestly. I tried to make extra sure to hide it today."

"But how?" Ana asked. "You can't just mask your aura like that without using another psionic enchantment that we should be able to detect."

"Let's just say that I've learned a few things from growing up on the streets," Darius said. "Avoiding other augurs is generally a good step to staying alive."

"But don't you need to go to Onett to activate any sort of psionic powers?" Ness asked.

"Nah, there are other ways. I started to develop my powers quite early, although I did eventually visit the meteorite in Onett to unlock more of my potential."

"Excuse me," Sabu said. "But I think that we should go now. It looks like other people wish to speak with Master Darius here."

Sabu took off in a speed walk away from Darius' food tables; Ness and Ana jogged to keep up.

"Listen," Sabu said once they were away. "I didn't want to intrude on your important psion business, but that's Zanine's son."

"But he said that he was General Kim's-"

"They had him together," Sabu said, interrupting Ness. "We need to lose him now. I think that he was just stalling for time so that Zanine could hunt us down."

"Are you sure?" Ana asked.

"No, but do you want to risk it?"

"…Fair enough."

"I'll take us through some back alleys and busy streets to make sure that nobody's tracking us," Sabu said. "After that, we need to get to Warden Aniah quickly. Word of our arrival will spread quickly. If Darius knows who you are, Ness, he's probably figured out who your girlfriend is."

Could someone so nice and open really have been deceiving them the entire time? Ness found that difficult to believe. Sure, he knew that some people would employ a scheme similar to Darius', but Darius just seemed so _genuine._

But Sabu was right. Ness didn't want to risk the Scarabans catching him. Because if they did, they might throw him into a cell just like the Eagleish did with Sabu.

When he had been arrested, Sabu had been the same age that Ness was now. If he got caught now, he could easily become just as bitter and callous as Sabu had after years in prison had taken their toll.

Everything that he had done to rebuild himself would be wasted. Maybe instead of growing jaded, Ness would turn back into the useless crybaby that existed in limbo, only capable of sitting and watching while the world unfolded around him.

That possibility scared him more than anything.


	7. Chapter 6: Deep Darkness

**Hey, everyone. I'm writing this AN on Wednesday, but as you may have noticed I am posting it later than that. :)**

 **If you're just as confused and emotional about the recent American election as I am, I hope that you'll give my new oneshot a try. It's called "Love fades into the night," and maybe you'll find something in there that resonates with you. And let's be honest, if you're** ** _still_** **with me now then you like my writing more than you probably should. :) So much, maybe, that you'll listen to my shameless self-promotion above? ;)**

 **And if you're not, that's cool. I have a shiny new chapter here. :D We go back to Ninten for his adventure in the Deep Darkness. Instead of depicting it as a murky swamp, I envisioned it as a vast jungle, because it's** ** _so_** **much cooler that way. Who's with me? :)**

 **Also, you'll see an unexpected enemy from Earthbound make an appearance here. I won't spoil it for you. ;)**

 **Additionally, I depict the native tribes in the Deep Darkness as being somewhat technologically primitive, which of course does not really reflect irl Africa at all. The idea was to disconnect the Deep Darkness from the rest of the world and make it seem like a mythical place where time is almost frozen. I guess it's still a little racially biased for me to put it in the geographic equivalent of Africa. Whoops. But since Earthbound kinda did that too... I dunno. Maybe it's not** ** _quite_** **as bad? *shrugs***

 **Also, there's a tiny bit of a ship in this chapter, but don't expect it to turn into a whole lot more. I was trying to resolve so many open points near the end of this fic and some things just kinda got swept to the side. This is one of them. :(**

 **As always, I greatly appreciate reviews and I hope that you all have a wonderful day. :) Seriously, thank you to anyone who's still reading this story.**

* * *

 **Review Response:**

 **PKTofuMaster:** I don't blame you. Laundry can be exhausting. ;) I actually only do laundry every 2 weeks, so it's actually a pain to carry my clothes 20 feet to the laundry room. Poor me. D: Ah, thanks. I saw after giving Scaraba the Persian feel that it was based off of Egypt so I was like "Hmmm... how 2 fix dis?" Yes, Darius is a character that I will try to explore further... I don't know if he came out exactly how I wanted in the end, though. *shrugs* Character protag cast... I mean, there are honestly way too many of them to fit in one scene, put they'll match up with others as the story goes on. :) Yep, there are plenty of reasons why the mission could go downhill... and I wrote the next Ness chapter so long ago that I don't actually exactly remember what happens. I guess we'll both see. Yeah, all of the political leaders are essentially the same, obnoxious person. Still, in light of recent events, I would easily take Pirkle over a certain someone who just got elected. D: I actually think that it's a little unfair to brand all politicians that way, but in light of recent events... it's difficult for me to have much faith in politics. Yeah, I was wondering about that word as well; it makes sense on a literal level but doesn't capture the entire context. Ah, I might be doing that in the spring haha. I just hope that I don't have to do any dissections in lab. In AP Bio, the only thing we ever dissected was a flower.

* * *

 _The place that we call Deep Darkness has always been held in a mystical air._

 _It's well known that inner reaches of the jungle don't follow the laws of this Earth. Some enter to unlock its secrets; most come back empty handed._

 _What they don't find in treasure they make up for with stories. The jungle can be beautiful, and travelers tell enchanting tales upon their return to Scaraba. They speak of a kingdom of plants, a cave of wonders, and a sentient species of animals that no scientist has recorded._

* * *

Trekking through the jungle and going further into the darkness, Ninten wondered if he could trust Kumatora. Theoretically, she could abandon him and leave him to wander the forest maze until he died. Practically, she had no reason to do so, but Ninten worried nonetheless.

He turned to look at her, examining her knotted brow and heavy breathing. She struck Ninten as someone impulsive and single-minded, not unlike himself. There was a bomb ticking down, waiting to explode between the two of them.

"Tiring, huh?" Ninten asked.

Kumatora looked at him, presumably to see if he was making fun of her.

"I'm holding up fine," she said after a pause.

Ninten sighed inwardly. He hadn't meant to insult her stamina; any idiot could see that he was the one struggling with the hike far more than she. Kumatora's prickly nature reminded Ninten of himself.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Ninten said. "If you're one of the Osohe, does it mean that others are still alive?"

Ninten had always been told that the Osohe were a myth. Even people who believed in them agreed that they died out thousands of years ago, although nobody could say why. Ninten didn't trust Kumatora's proclaimed identity as one of the Osohe in the slightest, but it didn't hurt to play her game.

"I don't know," Kumatora said. "You won't believe me when I say this, but I woke up with amnesia on Aphrodite far before we ever met. I can only imagine that some of my brethren are alive, but I cannot say where."

"You're right; I'm not sure I believe that."

"At least you're honest." Kumatora smiled. "You remind me of myself, actually."

"Let's hope both of us can rein in our explosive sides."

"Agreed."

Well, Kumatora was more perceptive than Ninten had thought. From the little time that he spent with her back on Ceres, he assumed that she couldn't see outside of her own skull. But considering how often Ninten jumped to conclusions, it didn't surprise him that he was dead wrong.

"Still following the psionic signal?" Ninten asked. "Not that I doubt your abilities, but…"

"But it's tough for you to place your fate in my hands," Kumatora said. "I understand. I'm surprised that I could even get you to enter the Deep Darkness without a fight. If our roles had been switched, I don't think that I would have gone."

Ninten continued walking along the forest floor, trying to catch his breath.

"But yes," Kumatora said. "I am still following what I hope is the Sound Stone. At the very least, it should be another psionic item that's worth searching for. But…" Kumatora's eyes narrowed. "I think there might be a complication."

"How so?" Ninten asked.

"Not much fazes you, does it?" Kumatora asked with a grin. "I detected someone else's presence."

"A psion?" Ninten asked.

"You would think so, but…"

"But what?"

Kumatora squinted. It looked like she was concentrating on a fern in the distance.

"It's different," Kumatora said. "You know how Ceresian psions and Mu warriors from Dalaam give off different auras because of the different ways that they train?"

"No."

"Well, they do. The being that I can detect occasionally seems like he or she has a cultural fingerprint in their aura that I don't recognize."

"So it's not Scaraban?"

"No, it's nothing like Zanine's. Something about this aura makes my skin crawl, although I don't know why."

Well, that was pleasant. Ninten barely noticed the stream in front of him until he nearly toppled into it. Kumatora grabbed onto his arm.

"Come on, you can hear the water rushing right in front of you!" she teased.

"Eh," Ninten said. "Hearing is overrated. Still, I'm glad that this area is less marshy than it's been for the past couple of days. Looking at clear water makes me want to go swimming."

"Well, feel free," Kumatora said. "I lead us here purposefully; I was thinking that we could rest for the night. The sun's going down and I don't want to sleep in the middle of the forest again. There should be a waterfall not too far upstream."

"How can you tell?" Ninten asked.

Kumatora gave Ninten a flat look and tapped her ear. As soon as he realized what she meant, Ninten searched for the sound of cascading water and found it quite easily.

"I stand by my statement," Ninten said. "Hearing is overrated."

Kumatora smiled and walked towards the waterfall. Ninten followed behind, telling his moaning legs that he would only have to put in a few more minutes.

* * *

"Oh, that feels good," Ninten said, sitting on a rock and dangling his feet in the waterfall basin. "Even with psionics enhancing my endurance, I was not prepared for this at all."

"Aw, come on," Kumatora said. "It wasn't that bad."

"Maybe to you it wasn't," Ninten said. "But we humans tend to get tired, unlike you Osohe with your superior builds and metabolisms."

"Eh, fair enough," Kumatora said. "I'll take that as an excuse for not helping set up the fire."

Ninten turned around to see that Kumatora had already set up a bed of sticks and branches. A flame licked at Kumatora's hands as she bent over to add more wood. She didn't seem to mind.

"Again," Kumatora said, "You could have probably heard the cackling if you cared to listen."

"Your point being…?"

Kumatora scowled, although it gave way to a laugh after a moment. Kumatora tried to put the scowl back on her face, but it refused to stay on. Ninten flashed a cheesy smile.

"Well, the fire should be fine on its own," Kumatora said. "I'm thinking that we should wash up. I don't know about you, but I've been dragging swamp muck for days and I can hardly stand it. I've never been a clean person, but this is taking it a little far."

"Agreed," Ninten said. "Look at that; we're concurring so many times today. Maybe this trip _won't_ be my biggest regret in life."

"Mm hmm," Kumatora said. "Glad that I could help."

Kumatora started to take her trousers off.

"Wait!" Ninten said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking a bath," Kumatora said, blinking in confusion. "Don't tell me that you humans bathe with your clothes on."

"No, but…" Ninten said, feeling his cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Maybe we should take turns?"

"Oh, come on," Kumatora said. "Putting your life in my hands is fine, but you can't stand to see me naked? Girls don't _actually_ have cooties, you know."

When put that way, his squeamishness did seem a little silly.

"I know," Ninten said. "I'm just not used to seeing people naked."

"I don't imagine that you would be used to trusting strangers with your life, either. It's fine if you want to go for a walk while I bathe; I'm just mystified as to why you care so much."

 _She's right,_ Ninten thought. _I'm not some Eagleish prude. We're out in the jungle where nobody can find us. This should be fine._

Ninten started taking off his own trousers.

"So did I convince you?" Kumatora said.

"Yeah," Ninten muttered. "But you had better not mention this to Ana, or she'll never let it go."

Kumatora shot Ninten a flat look.

"Because she'll honestly care more that you saw me naked than that you went off into a dangerous situation with me. She's not a petty person. I mean, she'll probably be _most_ upset that I'll be the only one to save you if you do something stupid."

"Funny. I pictured you getting into trouble and me doing the saving."

Kumatora snorted. She finished taking her clothes off and dove into the water headfirst. When she rose back up to the surface, she spit out a spray of water from her mouth like a whale using its blowhole.

"Come in!" she said, motioning for Ninten to come closer. "The water's freezing!"

"Yeah, I can already tell. My legs have been in there for the past few minutes, remember?"

Ninten finished taking off his clothes. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so exposed.

"Well then hurry the psych up and jump in!" Kumatora said. "You ever heard the saying 'caution dulls one's edges?' Come on; take a bold leap!"

"I'm… not that good at swimming," Ninten said. "My father taught me everything from the history of the potato to vector calculus, but he only touched upon swimming."

"Eh, you'll be fine with your psionics," Kumatora said.

"It's not the risk of death that bothers me. It's the risk that I _feel_ like I'm going to die."

"How about this? I'll help you if you look like you need it."

Ninten shook his head, walking up to the waterfall basin and dipping his body in slowly. Kumatora splashed water all over his face.

"Ah!" Ninten shouted, wiping the water off of his eyelids. "Stop that!"

"If you want to get back at me, you have to swim into the middle of the pool," Kumatora said.

"Ah psych, it's _cold._ " Ninten said. He used psionics to warm his body up. "That's better."

"Cheater," Kumatora said, her eyes narrowing.

"More like winner."

"Please." Kumatora rolled her eyes. "If this were just about getting clean, I could use psionics to scrub myself. No water necessary."

"So why don't you do that?"

"Because I don't want to broadcast my presence more than I already am."

 _Oh, psych,_ Ninten thought. _I just told every psion nearby that we're here. Hopefully, nobody is around._

Kumatora shot Ninten a disapproving look. When he looked away in shame, she laughed and swam over.

"Don't take it so hard," she said. "Even if you do get in trouble, I'll be here to bail you out."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a lot more upbeat when you're not near Zanine? I'm starting to think that woman is a bad influence on you."

"Nah, it's just me," she said. "I'm happier when I'm in nature away from most other people. Drawbacks of being an introvert, I guess."

"You're an introvert?"

"Why? Aren't you one too?"

"I guess, but…" Ninten trailed off. "You're just so _loud._ "

"Is this better?" Kumatora asked, her voice dropping to an exaggerated whisper.

"You know that's not what I meant."

Kumatora laughed.

"I'm glad that you find yourself so amusing," Ninten said.

Kumatora laughed harder.

"Mmph," Ninten muttered.

"Sorry, sorry," Kumatora said. "But the way that you disapprove so unresponsively is just _funny._ "

"Glad to hear it."

"There it is again!"

"Quick, catch it before it leaves," Ninten said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, now you _are_ flirting with me."

"You know how socially awkward I am. It would be painfully obvious if I actually wanted to court you."

"Kidding, kidding." A smile crept onto Kumatora's lips. "You're such a serious person, you know."

Kumatora's expression turned contemplative.

"Thanks for coming with me on this trip, Ninten. I really mean that. I sometimes scare myself with how bitter I can get when I'm around angry people. The person you saw back in Scaraba wasn't new. She also came out when Claus and I fought against the pigmasks."

"That might be why he was so concerned," Ninten said.

"Probably, yeah," Kumatora said. "Is that why you were so hostile towards me?"

"Nah, I was just being an asshole. It happens sometimes. Sorry about that."

"I think you could see how angry I was and went into defense mode by reflex," Kumatora said. "I don't blame you at all. But I _do_ feel terrible for Paula. I'm starting to learn that while even though every criticism I gave her was true, I was way more aggressive about it than I needed to be. How are you taking her death, by the way? You don't seem too crushed."

"I don't know if there's anything in my heart left to crush," Ninten said with a shrug. "I think it helped that I didn't actually see her die. In my mind, she went down as a hero, taking a dozen sword slashes meant for innocent civilians. It's easier to stomach that way."

"Well, if you ever need someone to help you through the grieving process, I'll be here."

"Now it almost sounds like you're flirting with me."

Ninten had intended it as a joke, but Kumatora winked and smiled at him. Ninten's heart skipped a beat. Divine Rulers, what was he getting himself into?

After a moment, Kumatora's face turned from playful to dead serious.

"Someone's coming," she said. "Let's get dressed so it doesn't look like we were doing something scandalous."

"I didn't even think that you would have cared if people assumed that about us," Ninten said.

"I don't." She hoisted herself out of the waterfall basin. "I was considering your sensitivities. You're welcome."

Ninten climbed out of the basin after Kumatora, nearly slipping back in as his hands grasped the smooth rocks on the shore. He caught a flash of movement in the corner of his eye. The next second, a dozen men with spears emerged from the trees and pointed their weapons at Ninten.

It took Ninten a moment to look past their dark skin and see nonverbal cues. He thought that the Scarabans possessed dark skin, but these people's skin was a brown shade so dark that it almost looked black.

Kumatora alerted Ninten by using psionics. He jerked his head towards her, fearing the worst, but no flames or ice sprouted from her hands. Ninten identified the psionics as telepathic communication. Was she trying to explain their situation to these people?

The dark-skinned men conversed in a language that Ninten didn't recognize. He tried to gauge their tone and guessed that they felt suspicious. Well, he already assumed that from the way that they were pointing their spears at him.

"Do you speak Eagleish?" Ninten asked.

The men stopped their conversations and brought their spears closer to Ninten. He assumed that was a no. After another burst of psionics from Kumatora, they backed off to their original position.

"Stay quiet," Kumatora said. "I'm trying to get through to them, but I don't think that they're used to meeting travelers."

Ninten gulped and nodded. He shivered, clinging onto his arms as water dripped off his elbows and ran down his legs. He looked at the fire and clothes that lay just a few feet away, but he knew better than to make any movements in front of these distrustful men.

He stood there freezing his ass off as Kumatora continued to use psionics to communicate with the men. After some time, she started to speak in what Ninten assumed was their language. The men's surprise only made Ninten more confident about that prediction.

It took even longer until she could converse meaningfully. The men used many of the same facial cues that the rest of the universe did, despite their apparent isolation from outside civilizations. They knotted their brows when confused and nodded their heads when impressed. The strongest-looking man and Kumatora eventually talked one on one. Ninten could tell by the constant pauses and hand gestures that their communication was rudimentary, but if it would keep their spears away from him then he wouldn't complain.

After the conversation, the men lowered their spears and walked away from Ninten. The leader smiled at Kumatora and flicked his wrist; Ninten didn't know if the latter was some sort of cue.

"Okay, I think I convinced them that we won't hurt them," Kumatora said. "And I may have also promised to help them."

"Help them with what?" Ninten asked. "And can I put my clothes back on?"

"Sure." Kumatora walked over and put her undergarments on, followed by her trouser and shirt. "Like I said, I convinced them that we're here to help."

Ninten lunged at his clothes, putting them on in a frenzied fashion. It was bad enough to stand naked in the cold of the night, but it was even worse to cope with the embarrassment of doing so in front of strangers.

"I'm not sure how well I understood them, but I think they said that they're dealing with a 'monster.' I don't know if that means a tiger or another predator."

"Or a hippo," Ninten said. When Kumatora gave him a flat look, "I'm serious. They're quite territorial and they pack enough weight in those fat bodies of theirs that they can trample people to death."

"Pleasant." Kumatora sniffed. "But I think that explains why they treated us like enemies. They're scared. I don't know if I heard this part right, but I think they might have said that they make offerings to this monster."

"Offerings?" A chill ran down Ninten's spine. "What kind of offerings? Crops and livestock, I hope."

"I don't know," Kumatora said. "But look at their faces. They're weary. They just want to keep their families safe."

The leader walked up to Kumatora and pointed in a direction. He gestured for her to follow.

"Let's go, then," Kumatora asked.

"Are you sure that you can understand their language?" Ninten asked. "For all we know, you might have volunteered both of us as 'offerings' to this monster."

"I guess we'll find out. Worst case scenario, we bail out and scare anyone we need to with our psionics. But I don't think it will come to that."

 _I don't either,_ Ninten thought. _But I still have a bad feeling about this._

* * *

Ninten followed the dark-skinned men up a series of slanted tree trunks and into a village resting in the canopy of multiple trees. Clackety wooden bridges held together by ropes provided the only way to travel from house to house in this village located in the trees. Ninten wondered what would happen if one of the trees fell down and felt a shiver run down his spine. Kumatora talked to the leader for a few minutes before turning back to Ninten.

"Apparently, the monster likes to roam below," Kumatora said. "So they built their village all the way up in the trees."

"It's that dangerous?" Ninten asked, looking down at the hundred foot drop to the ground. "I'm starting to think that it's something more than a wild animal."

"I agree. Let's check out the area below for clues."

"And these people trust us to stay near their village?"

"Well enough. If a dissenter shoots and arrow at us, we can always shrug it off with our psionic aura and walk away."

Ninten followed Kumatora down natural roads made of tree trunks, taking each step with caution to ensure that he didn't slip.

"I'm glad that you care," Ninten said.

"Hmm?" Kumatora asked.

"You're willing to shove our mission to the side and help someone else. I was worried that you'd be too focused on what we had to do."

"Meaning that you thought my heart had dried out a long time ago."

Ninten shrugged, accepting the translation.

"I guess I'm always ready to jump in and do _something,_ " Kumatora said. "The problem comes when I do the wrong thing, not when I freeze or ignore the outside world."

"I think that's where we're different," Ninten said. "I've always been taught that nothing I do will mean a psych."

Ninten and Kumatora walked in silence until they reached the ground. Upon walking under the complex of houses above, Ninten picked up on the stench of sulfur and nearly gagged.

"Smells like rotten eggs," Kumatora said, wrinkling her nose.

"Wish I could unboil _those_ eggs," Ninten muttered. Kumatora raised an eyebrow. "Inside joke."

"Look," Kumatora said, bending down and touching a trail of goo at the bottom. "It's like some giant slug passed through. Do those exist?"

"No," Ninten said. "Without muscles, they wouldn't be able to move their own weight if they were this big."

"Then what the psych did this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I'm starting to think that this 'monster' is something that we should worry about."

"Ah," came a gurgling voice from behind Ninten. "Are you two my next sacrifices?"

 _It speaks?_ Ninten thought, whirling around. _In Eagleish, no less._

The being that stood in front of him could hardly be classified as an animal in any sense. It looked like… Well, it looked like a puddle of barf and garbage with eyes and a fanged mouth. Ninten's eyes watered from the stench of vomit.

"Kumatora," Ninten said. "Do you have _any_ idea what this thing is?"

"That's rather rude," the monster said. "You can speak to me directly, you know. You know, distract me a little from the pain?"

"Pain?" Ninten asked. "You don't even look like you have a nervous system."

"There are other places to attack than a physical body, you know," the monster said. "But it does not matter, since I shall be tasting your flesh in a few minutes. The name is Master Barf, although I also go by Master Belch. Yours?"

"Why do you want to eat us?" Kumatora asked.

"It relieves the pain momentarily," Master Belch said. "The pain of her curse."

"Who is this person?" Ninten asked.

"It doesn't matter. You'll both be resting in my stomach regardless, so why should I explain?"

 _Well, you already did more explaining than you needed to,_ Ninten thought. _Why not take the extra leap?_

"Call weapon," Ninten said, forming a rapier out of transparent ectoplasm and gripping it.

"Oh, a psion!" Master Belch said. "Now this should be interesting."

Master Belch spit out a yellow liquid that coated Ninten and Kumatora. Ninten could feel the liquid eating away at his psionic aura.

"He's trying to digest us before he eats us," Kumatora said. "Bleh! I just got his stomach acid in my mouth. PK Fire!"

Flames spouted from the ground, licking Master Barf. The monster flinched, although Ninten wasn't sure how much it actually hurt him.

"Careful," Ninten said. "We don't want to burn this whole forest down."

"Oh, right," Kumatora said. "PK Freeze!"

Ninten darted in, stabbing Master Belch with his rapier. The monster roared and exuded a yellow gas that stung Ninten's eyes. Tears blinded his vision. He leapt back, wiping the moisture from his eyes.

 _The clock's ticking,_ Ninten said. _After my psionic aura runs out, the stomach acid will eat away at my skin._

Ninten continued to dart in for attacks and heal himself while Kumatora blasted psionics from afar. Master Belch moved like a pseudopod, stretching out part of his body and shrinking it back the other way so that he could travel long distances with a stride of sorts. He moved over to Kumatora with surprising speed and smacked her with multiple parts of his body, sending her tumbling to the ground.

Ninten darted in for a flurry of stabs; they punctured solid layers of flesh so Ninten assumed that they did _some_ damage. Stomach acid started to leak out of the holes that Ninten stabbed.

"Mm," Master Belch said. "Yes, keep stabbing. The pain distracts me from my suffering."

"What are you, really?" Kumatora asked, firing another PK Freeze.

"I am what you see," Master Belch said. "An animated pile of vomit with a stomach."

"Animated?" Kumatora asked. "By psionics?"

 _She's right,_ Ninten thought. _That doesn't make any sense. This thing is too complicated for a psion to have created._

"You're a real person," Ninten said, "Not just some sort of construct."

"Right and wrong," Master Belch said, lunging at Ninten. "But mostly right."

"How did this happen?" Kumatora asked. "We might be able to fix you."

"Who was the person that you mentioned earlier?" Ninten asked. "The person who inflicted this pain upon you?"

"I've said too much already," Master Belch said, baring its teeth. "Now I really don't have a choice. You die today, humans."

Master Belch reared back, closing its eyes. Ninten could only imagine what kind of attack it was preparing. He darted in, stabbing Master Belch with his rapier, but the monster didn't respond.

"Oh psych," Kumatora said. "He's probably just pretending to charge up for some ultimate attack, but we should teleport out just to be safe."

"PK Starstorm!"

Ninten flinched in anticipation, waiting for the attack to strike him.

 _Wait,_ he thought. _That wasn't Master Belch's voice._

Hundreds and hundreds of sparkling orbs fell from the sky, landing on Master Belch and exploding. The monster groaned as the explosions sent vomit flying in every direction, hitting tree trunks and covering Ninten's face.

By the time that the assault of vomit stopped and Ninten wiped the chunky liquid off of his face, he saw Prince Poo of Dalaam standing over what was left of Master Belch. What was formerly a pile of vomit now looked more like a puddle. Master Belch gurgled, although Ninten wasn't sure how it could speak without its mouth connected to its vocal cords.

"Well… played," Master Belch said.

The monster's eyes closed and its jaw opened wide, revealing behind it nothing more than a thin layer of barf.

"Yuck," Kumatora said. "Glad to see that you're still kicking, Poo. Thanks for the save."

"Well, I had to make it up to you, didn't I?" Poo asked, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. "I'm amazed that you risked your life back in those chimera labs on Ceres. I don't have the best record for helping people in trouble, as you probably know."

"Damn right I know!" Kumatora said. "And you would probably abandon me if the same situation happened again, wouldn't you?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"So pragmatic," Kumatora said. "That's a character fault, you know."

"Not as big as lack of self-control, though."

"Well, you got me there."

"I get the feeling that I'm being left out," Ninten said. "What happened between you two?"

"We can talk later," Poo said. "You two are searching for the Sound Stone, yes? My Mu master back in Dalaam told me about that artifact. Dalaamian sages tend to have an inflated view of their wisdom, but even I can't question the amount of knowledge archived in their heads."

"He certainly _talks_ like a prince," Kumatora said, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, we're searching for the Sound Stone. But before we do anything else, Ninten and I have somewhere important to go."

"We do?" Ninten asked.

"We're heading back to the waterfall basin to wash ourselves off again," Kumatora said. "I know that I can sometimes get bossy, but I think that's a reasonable request."

"Yeah," Ninten said. "You'd have to find a madman to get someone who wouldn't want to take a bath after that."

 _A madman…_ Ninten thought, his mouth tightening. _I'm due to develop Schizophrenia in a few years. These moments with my friends may be my few happy ones before I lose grip on reality._

"Everything all right?" Poo asked. "You look like someone who just remembered that they left a fire going near their house."

"No, it's nothing," Ninten said, forcing a smile. "Let's go and take a dip in that waterfall basin. Cold or no, it's got to be better than walking around like this."

Kumatora nodded and dashed off. Ninten followed behind, although thoughts of insanity hung like clouds over his head.

Hopefully they wouldn't rain on this day.


	8. Chapter 7: The Power to Kill

**Wow, it's been a while since I've uploaded. Contrary to what you may think, this story is not quite dead! :D I'll try to upload on a more timely basis, but we'll roll and see how things go.**

 **But if you sincerely like this story and want me to update more, reviews are honestly the best way to show that. I don't want to pressure anyone into reviewing, but... well, responding to reviews is a lot of fun, so ti makes me want to update more often. Maybe keep that in mind? :) It's hard for me to get to work editing chapters if I feel like nobody really cares about them.**

 **I'll respond to the review, and I'll try to give some IRL background on some of the topics in the chapter at the end. :)**

* * *

 **Review Response:**

 **PKTofuMaster:** Well, it's not like I updated much since then, so I'd say you're fine. :) Ah, yes, there are plenty of non-canon ships in this series, although I'm honestly terrible at writing romance so romantic relationships honestly aren't a super high priority for most of my characters haha. But I'm glad that you liked the whole Ninten-Kumatora thing; it was a lot of fun to write. :) Mostly, it doesn't work out because I have other plans for Kuma. She's kind of a Diana character in that she's kinda OP, so she'll steal too much of the spotlight if she's actually around all of the time (thus why she always goes missing haha). Indeed, Master Belch is quite the pile of slime. :) It was honestly really tricky to write his character, though; I didn't know how serious I should make him.

Aw, thanks! :D It means a lot to me to hear (read?) you say (write?) that. And while I can take credit for the mental illness thing, I would hardly call the whole "justifiable killing" thing a new topic. Pretty much every fantasy book featuring a war (i.e. most of them) drones on about it until the point that characters come off as super whiny like "AAAH I dun wanna kill D:" And yes, I see what you mean. I usually put the plot first, and I'll defend that decision. Scenes are boring when it feels like there's nothing at stake, and it's easier to conjure plot problems than emotional struggles. While a certain character's problems may not appeal to everyone, most people can appreciate a good, old fashioned "people will die if we don't get this right" sort of conflict. That's why I try to make emotional struggles less apparent... and I do believe that it's possible to convey a lot of information about a character with just a few words. Not that _I'm_ doing a great job with that, but... goals. :) Yes, Ninten is quite the stubborn fellow. Hearing is overrated indeed. ;) And more Lucas stuff is coming; just you wait. :D

* * *

 _There's a Scaraban saying that goes "War demands change." Whenever we enter war, more civilians work to produce weapons and food. Governments hike up taxes to pay for the expenses. Propaganda turns entire countries into automatons._

 _However, war usually leaves its mark on the world in the form of new technology. Usually, psions figure out better ways to kill masses of people._

 _But when someone can give an ordinary person a psion's powers… well, there are plenty of ordinary people to empower. Simple inventions are often the ones that change the nature of war itself._

(ILH)

Jeff heard the door to his laboratory swing open with a soft creak. He turned around, spotting Claus walk into the room. Claus examined lines of circuitry and explosives on the tables where Jeff worked.

"So you've got the whole setup," Claus said, fidgeting with his eyepatch. "Zanine gave you a lot of toys to play with, huh?"

"Scaraba tries to hide the fact that it contains a few psionic crystal mines, but she let me in on their secret," Jeff said. "It's strange, though. The fact that crystals exist on Earth implies that someone put them there."

"And even the legends of the Osohe mention nothing of them coming to Earth," Claus said.

Jeff nodded, sticking a psionic circuit with a crystal inside a plastic bottle. In the corner of his eye, Jeff could see Claus reaching out to touch one of completed bottle rockets.

"Please don't mess with that," Jeff said. "I don't want it blowing up in your face."

"You mean that it can detonate without a psion there to activate it?" Claus asked.

Jeff studied the psychic warrior. He could share his secrets with Claus, right?

"I guess there's no point in denying it," Jeff said. "It's what I've been working on for the past few days."

"How does it work?" Claus asked.

"You can see that I put other objects inside the bottle, yes?"

"Nails and needles, looks like."

"Right. When the rocket smashes into a surface, the sharp objects bounce around and scratch the crystal. That's where fancy psionic engineering comes in and triggers a small explosion, which blows up enough of the crystal to harness most of the energy from its core to create an even larger explosion."

"So it's a simple chain reaction?" Claus paused. "That's pretty clever… I assume you picked it up from the Shard?"

"No, I actually designed this on my own."

Claus smiled. The grin dropped off his face when he realized that Jeff wasn't kidding.

"In a couple days, you figure out a way to give everyone the explosive powers of a psion?"

Jeff shrugged.

"Psych, I don't know whether to be impressed or horrified," Claus said. Scratching his head, "I guess I can be both."

Jeff moved to examine the next rocket in the line.

"So how big of an explosion are we talking about here?" Claus asked.

"A few of them could probably bring down a small house," Jeff said.

"Oh man." Claus paced back and forth. "I can't say anything until I see it in action, but this could be _big_."

"You think so?" Jeff asked.

"Think about it. You can launch missiles that take out psyching houses. What if you get a few aeroplanes and use them to fly around and drop bombs all over the city? It would win the battle without risking anything… and it would turn civilians into bomb targets."

"People have done that before," Jeff said. "And we're still fine today."

"Yeah, with psions and archers," Claus said. "But it's different. There are so few psions that using them as a glorified missile launcher simply isn't practical." He halted and picked up a psionic crystal from one of Jeff's tables. "And you're _not_ about to tell me that a storm of arrows is the same as a storm of bombs."

Jeff shrugged.

"Would _you_ feel safe if you knew that Scaraba could drop bombs on your house whenever it wanted to?" Claus asked. "And if these bombs are as powerful as you say they are, I think that more countries will pick up on the design. People across the universe might live in constant knowledge that one of their political enemies might decide to fly over and drop some of these bottle rockets with a BAM!" Claus clapped his hands together. "And then not even the birds will sing."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Jeff asked. "Eagleland will try to suppress the Scaraban revolution. What chance do you think that Scaraba stands without a little boost in technology? You saw the limestone quarry, Claus. You know how the Eagleish treat Scarabans. This is about more than just saving lives. It's about freedom. So yes, this technology might be dangerous." Jeff looked Claus in the eye. "But it gives the Scarabans another chance to lift Eagleland's foot of their back."

"I just don't see how it's worth the risk," Claus said. He sighed, shaking his head. "What are you going to do with these bottle rockets of yours?"

"I'm handing them over to Zanine," Jeff said. "She probably knows how to use them better than I do."

"Psych," Claus said. "You really are her puppet, aren't you?"

"Oh, so I'm her puppet because I'm trusting her with the same knowledge I just told you?" Jeff said, biting back a harsher retort. "I wasn't aware. Thank you for the education."

"You're putting words in my mouth," Claus said. "It's just a problem that you decide to hand possibly the most destructive weapons the universe has ever seen over to someone we really shouldn't trust."

"She has the Scarabans' best interests in mind," Jeff said. "I don't doubt her sincerity in that regard. Besides, I work on projects that don't concern Scarabans and the war." Jeff flipped up a miniature screen in front of the corner of his right eye. "I've been working on this. It lets me detect psionics, just like you psionics-users can."

"Did you steal _that_ information from the Shard?" Claus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"This one I did. It was far more complicated than creating the bottle rockets. It makes me wonder why nobody else came up with generic explosives before I did."

"Psions ruled the universe until 80 years ago," Claus said. "Why would they want to empower the common people? If they invent only for themselves, it ensures that they stay in power."

"I guess…" Jeff said.

"That makes you dangerous," Claus said. "Because while a psion inventor could affect a couple dozen people's ability to kill, your inventions could give millions the tools to ravage entire cities."

"My father Dr. Andonuts was a psion too," Jeff said, "And he invented for the common man. Times are changing, Claus. Someone was bound to invent a similar explosive eventually. At least I can make sure that my weapons are used for good."

As Jeff turned to walk out of the lab, Claus snorted a laugh.

"What makes you so psyching sure that you can control who uses your weapons?" Claus asked.

He walked out of the lab and slammed the door behind him.

(ILH)

Jeff entered Zanine's office, which now resided in the former Eagleish headquarters of the military complex. She was talking in Persian with two men, both of whom came up on Jeff's flip-up eye screen as psions.

"Oh, is this a bad time?" Jeff asked.

"No, no," Zanine said. "Please, come in and take a seat."

Jeff did so, moving his chair as far away from the arrow holes as he could to avoid the gusts of smoldering air that wafted into the room.

"How's everything going along?" Zanine asked.

"Uh… are you sure that you don't need to finish talking with them?" Jeff asked, looking between the two men.

"No, we have our plan basically worked out," she said. "Tell me, are you having any difficulties? I'm always here if you need assistance."

 _Too nice,_ Jeff thought. _She wants something from me._

But couldn't someone be nice just for the sake of it? After all, these Scarabans weren't like the Eagleish that oppressed them. Perhaps Jeff was overthinking the situation.

"No, everything's going well," Jeff said. "Have you started manufacturing laser guns with the design I gave you?"

"Yes, production is moving along quite smoothly," Zanine said. "I see why Kumatora wanted us to recruit you and your friends. It wasn't about any psionic prowess; your brain shall find the keys and unlock the door to peace and prosperity."

Jeff blushed.

"Really," he said. "I'm not that smart. To be honest, I stole some of these designs."

Zanine raised an eyebrow.

"You know how the Shard of Ceres contains all of the knowledge in the universe?" Jeff asked. "I asked it how to design those laser guns."

Jeff left the part about the enchanted armor out; it had been far more difficult to create and he didn't want to give away all of his secrets just yet.

"Well, that is an intelligent idea in itself," Zanine said. "Nobody before has asked that of the Shard."

 _I think it's because they all go insane from the trials that they have to go through,_ Jeff thought. _So why didn't Diana go insane? Why didn't I go insane?_

"Is that all you wanted to talk about?" Zanine asked, a motherly smile on her lips.

"Actually, there was something else," Jeff said, leaning away as a gust of hot air grazed by his left side. "I developed a new type of bomb, one that doesn't require a psion to activate."

Zanine's eyes narrowed.

"Show me," she said.

Jeff led Zanine back to the lab that she had given him. The other two psions stayed behind; Jeff couldn't read a reaction from either of them. Jeff breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived to find that Claus was gone.

"Hmm," Zanine said, inspecting one of the rockets. "This almost looks like a toy."

"I tested a miniature rocket before," Jeff said, "One with less than a hundredth of the explosive power as one of these. That's the result."

Jeff pointed to a pile of wood splinters that had formerly been a table.

"Ah," Zanine said, her eyes widening. "And this is less than a hundredth as powerful, you say?"

"Right," Jeff said. "The actual one has about five times the blast radius."

"That could be quite useful," Zanine said.

"I would hope so," Jeff said. "Claus was worried that it would change entire strategies of war."

"He may be right," Zanine said. "How aerodynamic are these missiles?"

"I haven't really tested it," Jeff said. "I was hoping that you could take things from here."

"Sure," Zanine said with a smile. "The Eagleish base here even has an aeroplane, so we can use that to transport the explosives if they must."

Jeff shivered. Claus' depiction of massive bombings from the air just got a little more realistic.

"But remember that these pack quite the punch," Jeff said. "So we don't want to use them in areas where innocent people might be."

"Of course," Zanine said. "We are not the Eagleish, willing to sacrifice hundreds of civilian lives to achieve our goal. Thank you for this gift to humanity, Jeff. I already see a way to test out their use."

"And what might that be?" Jeff asked.

"I've been notified to a pair of Eagleish spies," Zanine said. "I can use the missiles to bring down their shelter and put them on edge. I should easily be able to capture and interrogate them afterwards."

"And by interrogate, you mean…?"

"Not torture," Zanine said. "Torture only gets you what you wish to hear. We shall tell them the truth about who we are. We will show that we are not the bad guys. They might talk." Zanine shrugged. "Or they might not. We'll see."

"All right," Jeff said, his heart pounding in his chest. "I hope that my bottle rockets help."

"Thank you," Zanine said. "We will do our best together to protect our freedom."

(ILH)

"Here we are," Sabu said, walking up to what looked like an abandoned house. "This is where the Warden is hiding."

Ness took a close look at the house, noting that the clay used to build it was starting to crumble. His heart skipped a beat. Even though he knew that he would survive with his psionic aura even if the ceiling came down on top of him, he would find it difficult to sit still under a crumbling roof.

"I guess nobody in their right mind would ever look for him here," Ana said. "Are you sure that this is the place?"

"No," Sabu said, "But it's my best guess based on the description that Pirkle gave me."

The way that Sabu spat the word "Pirkle" sent a shiver down Ness' spine.

"In we go, I guess," Ana said.

She walked up and knocked on the door. A crossbow bolt punched through the thin wood of the door as a response. Ana swung the door open, revealing a middle-aged man with a bloodstained shirt wrapped around his left thigh as a makeshift tourniquet. Upon seeing Ana, he lowered his crossbow.

"You're not Scaraban," he said. "Still here to kill me or what?"

"No," Ana said, stepping into the room. "We do not wish to harm you."

The man loaded another bolt in his crossbow and pointed it at Ana.

"Then you'll kindly stay back. I see those muscles, girl. You could strangle me with your bare hands if I let you get close enough."

"Please," Ness said. "We just want to help."

"Then what are you doing with that convicted criminal?" The man asked, looking at Sabu.

"Nice to see you to, Warden Aniah," Sabu said, his eyes narrowing. "If wandering out a village is a criminal act, you had better incarcerate yourself as well."

"Pirkle sent us," Ana said. "We want to know what's been happening here in Scaraba."

"But why kids?" Warden Aniah's face lit up. "Oh, psych. You're psions, aren't you?"

Ness and Ana nodded.

"My sincerest apologies," the Warden said. "Please forgive me for my disrespectful-"

"Cut the act," Ana said. "Will you shoot us if we come further in?"

"Divine Rulers, no! Please, come in and close the door behind you. Er… and would you mind removing the crossbow bolt from the door? It might look suspicious. These Scarabans don't really use crossbows."

Ness stepped into the dwelling, followed by Sabu. Ana yanked the bolt out of the door and closed it behind them. She walked up to the Warden, who still looked quite tense.

"Lifeup," she said, waving her hand over the Warden's leg. "You should be able to walk now."

Warden Aniah let out a groan of relief and stood up. His legs wobbled; he leaned on the wall for support.

"Not feeling so mighty now, are you?" Sabu asked.

"Why did you have to bring the Egyptian along?" Warden Aniah asked.

"He's our guide," Ana said. "We didn't trust the Scarabans to treat us kindly after they just rose against the Eagleish rule."

"And you trust _him?_ "

"Quiet," Sabu said. "You do not want me to bash your skull in, slave herder."

"Slave herder?" the Warden laughed. "I've never heard that one before."

"Please," Ness said. "Can you just tell us what happened?"

Warden Aniah launched into a story about how the Scarabans revolted after centuries of harsh rule from the hands of Eagleland. It contained little information that surprised Ness; he had gotten a general feel for the Scarabans' hatred of the Eagleish from walking through their streets. Well, except for Darius. Ness still didn't know how to think about him.

After giving the general background, Warden Aniah delved into his own story about how he was out of the base when the Scarabans tried to attack him. He escaped with a wound to his thigh and made it over to the abandoned house before collapsing. He woke up after an unknown amount of time and had been living off of the rotten food and murky water that he found in the house. When Ana asked him about his proclaimed death, the Warden shrugged and speculated that they found someone else with a similar looking face among the Eagleish guard.

"I just hope that my wife and son are safe," Warden Aniah said. "Pirkle's going to make those bastards pay for what they did."

"Don't you feel bad for the Scarabans?" Ness said. "I mean, wouldn't you want to revolt if you lived under harsh treatment from another country?"

"Listen, kid," Warden Aniah said, taking out a cigar and popping it into his mouth. "I'm not saying you're wrong, but what are we supposed to do in our situation? Our people have gotten used to buying honey and paper for low prices. The second we give Scaraba what it wants, our citizens turn on us. They riot and demand that we reinstate a harsh rule with slave labor to cut down on the prices of goods. It's happened before."

"That's terrible!" Ness said.

"Eagleish people often are," Sabu muttered under his breath.

"It's called democracy," Warden Aniah said with a shrug. "Criticize me all you want, but remember that Pirkle put me here. And who put Pirkle as governor? Oh, right. The Eagleish people. If you want the Eagleish government to support Scaraban independence, elect some psyching representatives who will do that for you."

"Just because there was some sort of process doesn't make it any less disgusting," Ana said. "I thought that the days of imperialism and empire ended 80 years ago."

"Listen, what do you expect me to do?" the Warden puffed out cigar smoke from his nostrils. "I'm acting on the orders of an elected leader. And even if I were to stand up against Pirkle, what would I accomplish? Do you think that these Scarabans know how to rule themselves? Even if they're as smart as us, which I'm not convinced of…" Sabu snorted. "They still have no experience. You must have studied history before. What usually happens after a bloody revolution? Do the lives of regular people get better?"

"No," Ana said, gritting her teeth. "They usually get worse. The new leaders become just as tyrannical as the old ones, if not more."

"Exactly," the Warden said. "Even if this gambit of hers does work, Zanine will rule Scaraba with an iron fist until she dies. Nothing changes, except that a lot of young men get sent to their graves with their guts blasted out."

Ness realized that he was shrinking back out of instinct. The Warden's argument made sense, minus the racism; a Scaraban revolution might not even help Scaraba. Before, the right had always been obvious to Ness. When Ceres meddled in Vulcan's affairs, it ended up doing more harm than good. Therefore, Ness tried to protect the Vulcanese from Ceresian psions in the few ways that he could. In Dalaam, the Revivalists and Starmen threatened to slaughter entire cities. Ness devoted his effort to defending Dalaamian citizens.

But for this conflict, what was he supposed to do? In his heart, he wanted to keep Scaraba free from Eagleish rule, but would a revolution come back to hurt more people in the end? Ness knew that the Warden was right about Eagleish citizens; they wanted cheap goods and hardly thought about conditions in Scaraba. Their government officers would continue to reflect Eagleish heartlessness and put Scaraba under more pressure.

"Now," the Warden said. "Why don't we just teleport out of here and report this to-"

Warden Aniah was interrupted as an explosion sounded right above the roof. Chunks of clay fell down, some of them pelting Ness' head. Ness healed himself with Lifeup and looked around to see if anyone else needed help.

A second explosion sounded.

"We need to get the psych out of here before this whole building collapses!" Ana shouted.

Warden Aniah nodded and ran over rubble towards the door. Ness opened the door and dashed out while Ana helped the Warden escape. They barely made it out before a third explosion sounded.

The walls of the house fell down, scattering sand as they landed with a _thud_ that shook the earth. Ness looked back at the former dwelling and saw only a pile of clay.

"Where's Sabu?" Ana asked. "Did either of you see him?"

Ness and the Warden shook their heads.

"I think you'd best be concerned with yourself," came a voice from Ness' right.

He whipped his head sideways, spotting a Scaraban woman wearing a headscarf. She flashed a sad smile. Behind her stood two men holding swords, each of them with stony expressions on their faces.

Ness identified the three of them as psions.

"Mind thrust," the woman said in a casual tone of voice.

Warden Aniah dropped to the ground. Ness' heart leapt.

"No!" he shouted, bending down and taking the warden's pulse.

Nothing

"So you _are_ working with him, hmm?" the woman asked. "A pity. I was hoping that you would have more perspective."

"It's Zanine, yes?" Ana asked, summoning an ectoplasmic axe and gripping it in both hands. "I've heard a lot about you."

"And I've heard about you, Miss Aniah," Zanine said. "Like I said, I was hoping that we could come to some sort of an agreement."

"We still can!" Ana shouted. "Just listen to-"

The two men teleported behind Ana, kicking the back of her legs. Ana's knees buckled and she stumbled forward, barely managing not to collapse. The men dropped their swords and tackled Ana, pinning her to the ground.

"Ah," Zanine said, walking up to Ana with a disappointed look on her face. "You really need to ignore distractions, my dear. Even my cat could have seen that coming."

"Psych you!" Ana said. "I thought that you were serious about a resolution!"

"If conspiring with the person who oppressed us doesn't mark you as an enemy, I don't know what does," Zanine said.

The next moment, Zanine disappeared from sight. Ness whirled around to spot her standing right behind him, lashing out with her foot. Ness leapt away just in time to avoid falling into the same trap as Ana.

"Ah, this one's more aware," Zanine said. "You are like an American Buffalo, Miss Aniah. Strong, maybe, but utterly stupid. I assume that your boyfriend does most of the thinking in your relationship?"

"Ness!" Ana shouted. "Get the psych out of here! She's trying to get you mad."

 _Well it's working,_ Ness thought. _Besides, I could never leave you here…_

"I know what you're thinking," Ana said, struggling to free herself from the pin. "You don't want to leave me in the hands of these creeps."

"Indeed," Zanine said. "I'm afraid I'll have to tackle this head-on, no pun intended." The smile she shot at Ana made Ness' blood boil. "If you don't come with us, I cannot ensure your girlfriend's safety."

"Please please _please,_ " Ana said. "I shouldn't have to tell you how this ends. Either way, they rip my eyes out and lick their lips while I scream. The only difference is that if you run away you won't be forced to watch."

Ness looked back and forth between Ana and Zanine. He knew that Ana was right, but he couldn't abandon her. He just _couldn't._

"Make up your mind quickly," Zanine said, pulling out a dagger. "Otherwise, I might start… using more forceful persuasion techniques."

"No!" Ness said. "Please, don't!"

"Then come with us," Zanine said. "I promise that neither of you will be hurt if you surrender now."

"Ness," Ana said, her voice growing dangerously soft. "I don't love you. I never have."

"Wh-What?" Ness said.

"I'm a freak," Ana said. "I _can't_ love you because…" Ana took a deep breath. "Because I'm a homosexual. I've been manipulating you this entire time. Does that make you feel angry, Ness?"

Angry? Ness felt _horrible._ He never would have clung onto Ana like a neglected child if he knew that she didn't care for him back.

…But something about the confession sounded forced. Ness stood still, waiting for Ana to elaborate.

"You should despise me," Ana asked. "I played with your emotions like that for months. So leave me to my fate. That can be your revenge, Ness… the Divine Rulers know that I deserve it."

 _She's still trying to protect me,_ Ness realized, looking into her desperate eyes. _She wants me to abandon her out of hatred and save myself. She's trying to keep me safe in the only way left, even if it means that I'll despise her._

 _If that's not love, I don't know what is._

"What are you _psyching_ waiting for?" Ana asked. "Run!"

"Last chance," Zanine said.

 _Forgive me,_ Ness thought, not quite sure who that request was directed towards.

"PK Rockin," Ness said.

A wave of hexagons washed over Zanine, the two men, and Ana. Zanine gritted her teeth and snarled as the attack sent her stumbling backwards. Ana broke free from one of the men's grip and socked him in the face.

"We'll deal with the boy later!" Zanine shouted, running up to Ana. "Don't let her escape!"

"PK Rockin," Ness repeated, sending out another wave of hexagons.

Right before the hexagons reached over to Ana, Zanine grabbed onto Ana's free wrist.

"Teleport!" Zanine shouted.

Zanine, the two other psions, and Ana disappeared from sight. The PK Rockin washed over empty air.

Ness ran up to the spot where Zanine teleported away, even though he knew that it wouldn't do any good. Tears flowed from his eyes and fell onto the dry sand below. Ness searched through the ruins of the house for Sabu but found nothing.

 _Zanine took Ana away from me._

Now what was Ness supposed to do? Ana had always been the one with the plan. Whenever Ness needed help with anything he went to her. For the first time in months, he was truly alone with nobody to rely on. He couldn't teleport; he couldn't speak confidently. He was trapped in a hostile country with no way to escape or save the person he loved.

Ness' childhood fears returned to him. Ana had silenced them for a time, but without her there was nothing to stop them from coming back. He pictured the look on Mr. Carpainter's face as the cultist unleashed a storm of lightning onto hundreds of helpless people. Ness had done nothing to save them, and had only worsened the situation by retaliating and killing hundreds of cultists.

Ness shoved the memories back to realize that he was on his knees, his face buried in his hands.

 _Alone…_

 _Alone…_

 _ALONE!_

Ness gritted his teeth and forced himself back onto his feet. He had come too far to give up now. He didn't know what he would do without Ana's guidance or Sabu's knowledge of Dalaam, but he would figure out something.

What did he have to lose?

* * *

 **Here's a** **History lesson that will hopefully shed some light onto some of the ideas in this chapter!**

 **There's a lot of talk about imperialism and control this chapter, and many of you will probably recognize that this has a very real precedent with disastrous consequences. After the general collapse of most imperialistic empires after our two brutal World Wars, the west looked for other ways to expand its influence. Western countries (particularly Britain) pulled strings in the Middle East, tearing down rulers chosen by the people and propping up puppet leaders who would give them oil. Thus we enter a period of turmoil, revolutions, and general hostility towards the West.**

 **In short,** **repressive regimes such as Iran's and terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS were influenced in part by the type of imperialism discussed in this chapter.** **The struggles between Eagleland and Scaraba here are still occurring all around the globe, and this story is at least partially my take on it. Thanks for reading. :)**


	9. Chapter 8: Tenda Village

**Happy New Year, everyone! :) Look at me updating in the dead of night/morning. xD**

 **A minor announcement: I just published a oneshot in the smash bros section of this site for New Year's. I won't claim that it's my proudest work, but I think that it turned out all right, time restraints considered. It's significantly lighter than this story has become, so if you're in the mood for that... well, you can access the story quickly from my profile. :)**

 **We're back to Ninten for this chapter, and this one might get a little confusing. Abstract fantasy stuff is abstract. xD It all makes perfect sense in my head, but it's difficult to explain what's going on without taking up so much space that all of your eyes glaze over. Hopefully relating it to actual Earthbound locations helps it make a little more sense.**

 **I hope that you all have a wonderful 2017! :D**

* * *

 **Review Response:**

 **PKTofuMaster:** Yep, might as well slip arguments about the morality of killing into my fic. It's a fantasy staple, after all. :) Although I'm starting to take an interest in fantasy where the protags solve problems in other ways than chopping off heads. Ah, well I can't really complain too harshly about your reviews since it seems like you're the only one reviewing these days haha. And I do appreciate your advice and comments; it still helps quite a bit. People who aren't authors can still usually tell when a scene is bad, but they sometimes just have difficulty explaining why. And I'd say that your reviews are definitely a step above that. :) And yeah, I don't get the reference at all. xD

Ah, I'm glad that I influenced your writing somehow (and hopefully for the better!). :) Even if I do decide to write stories where fewer heads fly off, fantasy politics will always have a special place in my heart. And Ana's description of herself as "homosexual" is derogatory more because she uses it as a noun than any real meaning behind the word itself. Because Ana describes herself as "a homesexual," it's implied that her entire identify fits into the category of being gay while "homosexual" as an adjective can be one of many traits applied to her. It's a small distinction, but it's actually a decent indicator of how people feel about homoseuxality irl. Yes, there will be plenty of Lucas as the story drags on... his story is actually mostly unaltered from my original plans, whole most other characters go down vastly different avenues. I can't say anything now about Sabu, but I can promise that Scaraba isn't cooling down anytime soon. :)

* * *

 _Apparently, wondrous artifacts lie in the Deep Darkness. More artifacts than just the Sound Stone._

 _Treasure hunters often try to find a mythical cave that contains untold riches and Osohe artifacts._

 _Nobody has gone there and made it back alive._

* * *

Ninten stood on steps carved out of a slanted tree trunk, twiddling his thumbs next to the Dalaamian Prince Poo. Above, Kumatora was conversing with the leader of the dark-skinned men that they encountered before.

"It feels nice to be clean," Poo said. "Thank heavens for that stream. I don't know what I would have done otherwise."

"Yeah, and you weren't even the one with the most barf dripping from your clothes," Ninten said. "Kumatora and I had it the worst."

"Indeed, which explains your lack of hesitation to dive into the water naked," Poo said. "You seem the type to be oddly squeamish about matters such as those."

Ninten scratched his nose in an attempt to hide his flushed cheeks. Poo smiled, although not in a superior way like Kumatora tended to.

"Regardless," Poo said. "I'm amazed that she understands the language of those people well enough to converse with them. She must have a real knack for tongues."

It took Ninten a moment to realize that Poo was talking about Kumatora.

"She says that she's not even human," Ninten said. "She calls herself one of the Osohe. I don't know if that's a delusion or…"

"No, I think she might be right," Poo said. Upon seeing Ninten's frown, he continued, "You've examined her aura with your psionic senses, yes? It's… different."

"She grew up on Aphrodite," Ninten said. "Maybe her psionic aura developed differently. I know that yours looks a lot different from mine."

"Yes, but hers is different in another way," Poo said. "It's… bigger. Besides, since when did anyone have naturally occurring pink hair?"

"It could be a genetic mutation," Ninten said. "That's more likely than being an alien 3000 years out of whack."

"True," Poo said. "But she doesn't seem the delusional type. Stubborn, yes. Arrogant, maybe. But delusional? She has reason for believing in that identity and it comes with special powers. I'm inclined to trust her."

"That's one way of looking at it."

Poo sighed, looking at the steep drop over the steps and peering at the forest floor below.

"It's a good thing that I came when I did," Poo said. "If you had gone a little further, you would have strayed so far from the Sound Stone that I wouldn't have detected you on my path."

"Hmm?" Ninten asked. "So we're going the wrong way?"

"Yes. I believe that the warping of space is throwing you off."

"What does that mean?"

"I should probably wait for Kumatora to return before explaining."

"I can brief her later."

"I suppose it _is_ rather boring here," Poo said. "All right. Picture the physical universe as a flat surface, and then picture the psionic realm as a flat surface under that. You with me?"

"No," Ninten said sarcastically.

"Just making sure. Now, we don't know why, but there are places _between_ those two planes of existence."

"Between the physical realm and the psionic realm?"

"Exactly. They exist as… bubbles, more or less. But there are always thin tubes from both the physical realm and the psionic realm to these locations."

"Tubes?"

"Metaphorically speaking. It looks normal when you go through one, or so I've heard. We have one in Dalaam for sages to explore."

"So we go through this metaphorical tube and arrive in a metaphorical bubble between dimensions," Ninten said. "Then what?"

"We enter a world influenced by both the physical and the cognitive. Thoughts can shape the physical makeup of the world inside of the bubble."

"The thoughts of people inside?"

"Yes, but mostly the thoughts of random people outside the bubble," Poo said. "In times of war when people think about death, these bubbles tend to be dreary places filled with vultures and corpses. In happier times, they appear as castles made of pink clouds in the sky."

"I… have a hard time believing that."

"I thought that you might," Poo said. "But the Sound Stone is located in one of these bubbles. To travel there, we must enter through a place where space itself is stretched. That is what Kumatora cannot sense. She tries to connect between points A and B directly without accounting for the warping of space."

"And you know how to find the stretched space?" Ninten asked.

"More or less. My master set out a path for me with his scrying abilities. Worst case scenario, we can teleport back to a place I recognize and start from there."

"Okay!" Kumatora said, carrying a basket of fruit down the steps. "I'm done. The villagers were quite thankful that we took out Master Belch. I had to refuse most of it, and we still have this nice selection of tropical fruit."

"Ooh, is that a mango?" Ninten asked, picking out an orange piece of fruit. "I love these."

"We might as well eat this stuff before we go further," Kumatora said. "Unless either of you wants to carry this thing."

Ninten took another look at the basket; he estimated that it weighed five pounds. Not a lot of weight, but considering how much he already slowed down Kumatora…

"Nah, let's chow," Ninten said.

"You two have no self-restraint," Poo said with a smile.

"We have self-restraint, we just often choose not to use it," Kumatora said. "What's the point in always holding back? You need to pick something to dive into eventually."

"Yes, and that 'something' should not be a basket of sugar and vitamins," Poo said.

"Hey," Ninten said. "Fruit has fiber too."

"Whatever." Poo rolled his eyes. "If you two insist, we shall dig into this food that we could save for later."

"You're so goddamn passive aggressive, you know that?" Kumatora said. "Here, I'll be a nice person and carry this basket down to ground level so that you two don't have to freak out about the height. But I won't go an _inch_ further without eating!"

"Truly," Poo whispered in Ninten's ear, "Her generosity knows no bounds."

Ninten couldn't stop himself from laughing.

* * *

Ninten explained what Poo had told him to Kumatora while they ate fruit on the forest floor. She accepted the explanation with a surprising lack of skepticism.

"So do you think that Master Belch is something that leaked out from one of those bubbles?" Kumatora asked. "I could picture kids imagining a sentient puddle of barf and it coming to life."

"Something like that could exist in the bubble, yes," Poo said. "But when it came out it would just turn into a regular pile of vomit. Objects of the physical universe must obey its laws, regardless of their origin."

"So we shouldn't have any more Belches on our hands," Kumatora said. "That's reassuring. But still, the villagers didn't seem to find Master Belch's existence strange at all. I wonder what it would be like to live with the unimaginable every day."

"I wouldn't call Master Belch unimaginable," Ninten said, "Because I'm imagining him right now and it's ruining my appetite."

Kumatora chuckled and Poo offered a smile.

"Right, then," Kumatora said. "Let's just eat and forget about all of the problems with this world."

Ninten was more than happy to comply.

* * *

After they finished eating, Poo led Kumatora and Ninten through the jungle down a path scrawled in his memory. It amazed Ninten just how much psionics could do. It allowed Poo to see the right path thousands of miles away and then archive it in his memory without a second thought.

Ninten soon discovered that both Kumatora and Poo held a far quicker pace than he could. He blamed Kumatora's superior Osohe body, but he had no excuse for not keeping up with Poo. He requested frequent breaks yet insisted that he wasn't tired, which earned him grumbles from Kumatora and knowing smiles from Poo. Each night when they scoped out a place to camp, Ninten felt asleep almost before his head hit the ground.

After a couple days of travelling through the jungle while listening to monkey hoots and birdsongs, Poo lead Ninten and Kumatora to a cave. Ninten inspected the outside and found nothing notable.

"The path to the bubble is in here," Poo said. "The fact that we arrived means that we are close."

"Thank the Divine Rulers," Ninten said. "My legs are about to fall off."

"Oh, I thought you said that you weren't tired?" Kumatora said.

"Nah, I'm _exhausted._ "

"Silly me for thinking that you were fine," Kumatora said, rolling her eyes.

"You people sure love to talk," Poo said. "Is Dalaam the only country where the standard is quiet?"

"Haven't been everywhere, so I can't say," Ninten replied. "Now let's pull ourselves together and enter the cave. Your idle chatter is holding us back."

Kumatora snorted and Poo rolled his eyes. A successful attempt at humor, Ninten decided.

Poo entered the cave first, followed by Kumatora while Ninten rounded out the rear. The cave produced its own light in the form of luminescent moss; Ninten was grateful to conserve psionic energy that he would otherwise use to create light. As they went further in, Ninten noticed bipedal, turquoise animals scurrying around. They came up to Ninten's waist, and he was relatively short by human standards.

"Do you see those little things?" Ninten asked.

"No, we're psyching blind," Kumatora said. "It's not like one just ran past us or anything."

"That was a rhetorical question meant to provoke discussion," Ninten said.

"Your fancy words can't fool me. All I hear in your voice is that you're wrong."

"Quiet," Poo said, tiptoeing up to one of the creatures.

"We're shy," one of the creatures said.

"Well, not shy enough to run away," Poo pointed out.

"We're shy."

"Can you say something else to me?"

"We're shy."

Same tone of voice. Same inflections. The words sounded more like a looped sound bite than an actual creature speaking.

"Er… is everything okay?"

A pause.

"We're shy."

"This is starting to creep me out," Ninten said. "Let's go through here as quickly as we can."

"Hey, Poo-poo," Kumatora said. "Do you think that these little guys are part of the bubble?"

"No," Poo said. "You'll be able to tell once we get there, I'll promise you that."

"We're shy," the turquoise creature said.

"Can I just call you Poo-poo from now on?" Kumatora asked.

"If you must," Poo said. "But I agree with Ninten. These creatures do not make me… wholly comfortable. Let us make haste through this cave."

Poo quickened his pace. As they went further and further into the cave, Ninten started to see more of the turquoise creatures eyeing them curiously.

"We're shy."

"We're shy."

"We're shy."

"Can they say anything else?" Ninten asked.

"I don't know," Kumatora said. "Even I'm starting to get nervous. Having an army of little blue men chant 'We're shy' at us just seems wrong and it's putting me on edge."

"Let's ignore them," Poo said.

After a few minutes, they reached what looked like the end of the cave. A rock as large as Ninten stood a few feet away from the wall. One of the little turquoise creatures was leaning on it with its legs crossed in a disturbingly human-like way.

"Hello," the creature said. "And welcome to Tenda Village."

"Poo," Kumatora said. "I think you lead us the wrong way."

"No, I swear that this is right," Poo said. To the creature, "Are there any ways to go further into this cave?"

"If you could move this rock then there's a rope down to Lumine Hall," the creature said. "But why leave so soon? We Tenda are plenty hospitable."

"That's what you call yourself?" Ninten asked. "Tenda?"

The creature nodded.

"Most of us are shy," it said, a twinkle in its eye. "But I'm not."

The Tenda's smile sent a chill down Ninten's spine.

"You Tenda don't really seem that shy," Poo said. "In our culture, shy means avoiding social contact, not repeating one phrase over and over."

"Well, our culture is different," the Tenda said. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Err… no." Poo turned to Ninten, his eyes uncharacteristically panicked. "What do you two think that we should do?"

"Wait," Ninten said. "You trust _us_ to make a decision?"

"I am at a loss for what to do," Poo said.

"Well if these blue midgets could stop saying how shy they are, we could make some psyching progress here," Kumatora said.

"We're shy."

"We're shy."

"We're shy."

"Hello, shy," Ninten muttered under his breath. "I'm Ninten."

"They are simply expressing themselves in the only way that they know how," the Tenda in front of the rock said. "If you were in their place, I don't think that you would fare any better."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Ninten asked.

"Did you think that we were always like this?" the Tenda said. "That little blue men with uncharacteristic social behavior exist naturally in the wild?"

 _Um… there's another explanation?_ Ninten thought.

He waited. The Tenda didn't continue.

"And…?" Poo asked.

"That's all I will say," the Tenda said. "That's all I can force myself to say. You should cherish your freedom, humans. The fiery hand above does not notice you."

"Stop speaking in metaphors!" Kumatora said. "Talk clearly or zip that mouth of yours shut."

"How rude," the Tenda said. "You humans don't know the meaning of respect, do you?"

 _Nothing this thing says makes any sense,_ Ninten thought. _Apparently these Tendas don't exist in the wild, but they talk to us like they're not humans? Yeah, good luck convincing us with that one._

"Please, stop fighting," Poo said to Kumatora. "Let us move this rock and get on with ourselves. We don't want to create a scene."

"So you mean to move on?" the Tenda asked, its eyes looking somehow sad.

"Right," Ninten said. "Hmm… It will take a lot of force to move this rock, but maybe we can use torque instead."

Poo and Kumatora shot him blank stares.

"We'll use PK to push on the rock. One of us pushes the bottom of one side while the others push the top of the opposite side to make it spin."

Poo and Kumatora's eyes lit up; they nodded in approval.

"Listen," the Tenda said. "Are you serious about this? Do you really want to go into Lumine Hall?"

"What, are you going to stop us?" Kumatora said. "Forgive me if I'm not thoroughly intimidated by your imposing 2'8" figure."

The Tenda remained silent and bowed its head, perhaps in shame. It got up off of leaning on the rock and moved over to the wall, watching the teenagers with its sad eyes.

 _Something's wrong,_ Ninten thought. _Something's horribly wrong with all of this._

Ninten got on one side of the rock and pushed on the bottom using psychokinesis while Poo and Kumatora pushed on the top from the other side. The rock slipped and fell on its side, revealing a hole in the ground with a rope ladder leading downwards.

"Take another moment to think about this," the Tenda said. "Are you really going to climb down into that hole?"

"Yes," Poo said. "We are."

"Then I suppose we have no choice," the Tenda said, standing straight up. "I'm sorry that this will be the last thing you see before you die."

He spoke so casually that it took Ninten to register what he actually said.

The Tenda's eyes grew in its sockets, expanding until they grew to the size of fists. Red veins throbbed in the massive eyes, so large that they looked unnatural. Fangs grew in the Tenda's mouth, dripping with a green liquid that sizzled once it touched the ground. The Tenda's eyes turned bright red as it bared its fangs at Poo. Claws made of steel popped out of the Tenda's fingers and toes, reflecting the dim light of the moss.

"What the psych?" Kumatora said, taking a step back. "I must be hallucinating."

Ninten turned back to the mass of Tendas cutting off the path to the exit of the cave. An army of glowing, red eyes greeted Ninten.

"We're HUNGRY!" they said, their bone-chilling voice echoing throughout the cave.

Ninten's heart skipped a beat.

 _I think that we had better run._

Ninten dropped into the hole in the ground, not bothering to climb down the rope. He hit the ground with a thud, using Lifeup to heal any injuries that he suffered. He heard Kumatora and Poo land behind him. His heart pounded in his chest.

Ninten ran through the passageway ahead of him, surprised to find it carved neatly into a straight line with stone pillars placed equal distances apart from each other all down the hall. Torches in holders made of gold lined the halls, providing more than enough light.

Ninten saw dozens of lifeless bodies in the passageway, rotting away under the light of the torches.

Ninten looked back as he ran into the passage to see an army of Tendas following behind. They scraped their claws on the wall, creating a scratching sound that nearly forced Ninten to cover his ears. The Tendas stumbled over each other like rabid animals, biting and smiling at Poo's and Kumatora's heels.

"Ectoplasmic wall!" Ninten shouted.

A green, transparent wall of goop appeared between the humans and the Tendas. The Tendas barreled through without hesitation, finding themselves covered with the goo after bursting through.

 _There,_ Ninten thought. _That should slow them down._

"PK Fire!" Kumatora shouted. "PK Starstorm!"

Fire erupted from the ground and orbs of energy fell through the ceiling, exploding behind them. Ninten looked back to see some Tendas missing limbs as blood and gore lined the walls and floor. He assumed that for every one injured, another one lay burned to a crisp or blown to smithereens.

However, that didn't stop the remaining Tendas from approaching. Ninten continued to put up walls of ectoplasm to slow them down as Kumatora fired away with her psionics. Poo sent out waves of energy from his palms, battering the Tendas. But for every one that they took down, another took its place. Before long, Ninten could feel his a searing pain in his chest.

 _Gah!_ he thought. _Heartburn. At least it isn't my asthma._

Ninten pushed himself through the pain and picked up his pace. Past the hallway lay an open room with an incomplete grid of lights lining the walls. The Tendas grew nearer, despite Ninten's attempts to keep them back. One look at their hungry eyes and panic took over.

 _Just a little bit more. If I can make it into that room…_

Kumatora and Poo dashed ahead of him. Ninten's heart burned in his chest. The searing pain almost brought him to a halt.

 _I'm done,_ Ninten thought. _This psyching heartburn will end me._

Ninten stumbled into the room with the dotted lights on the walls. He took painfully slow steps forward, waiting for the end to come.

He wheeled around when he realized that the Tendas weren't following him. They stood at the entrance to the room, hopping up and down and chanting in a guttural language that Ninten didn't recognize.

 _Can they not get in?_ Ninten thought. _The entrance looks clear…_

Well, whatever. Ninten was grateful for the opportunity to catch his breath.

"Welcome to the Lumine Hall, adventurers. The Tendas will not harm you here."

Ninten whirled around, spotting a woman standing on her tiptoes past Poo and Kumatora. The pose looked natural; her legs didn't even shake as she held up the weight of her body on the area of a pinhead. Her closed eyes and smooth-looking skin gave off the aura of serenity. She hopped down from her tiptoe position onto her feet and smiled. She opened her eyes, revealing pale green irises that drowned out any semblance of passion.

 _Beautiful,_ Ninten thought. _And horrifying._

Ninten looked past the woman, noticing only what looked like a hole fit for a mouse at the end of the room. The wall where it was located was only a few paces away, but the hole itself looked like it would take an eternity to reach. Ninten shook his head, trying to make sense of the image.

"I suppose that I should introduce myself," the woman said, her voice serene. "I am Starman 100101011011, controlling this human vessel." The woman extended her arm out to the side gracefully and scanned it with her calm, green eyes. "The human's name is Mary Lorune."

Ninten's blinked.

 _No,_ he thought. _She died 80 years ago. Murdered by her own husband. Everyone knows that._

"You seem surprised," Mary said. "Ah, this body looks far younger than it should, no? But that is what cryosleep can do. If these cells don't function, then they don't age. Perfect preservation." Mary smiled again, but there was no warmth in it. "But all that is created must be destroyed. Isn't that one of the laws of this world?"

The Tendas outside the room stopped screaming and snarling. Their features returned back to normal and they walked away as if nothing had happened.

"Did you do that?" Poo asked.

"No, they are under the command of another," Mary said. "First, let me make one thing clear. If any of you attempt to flee or fight, I shall kill you."

"Heh," Kumatora said. "These starmen don't even know about the psionic stall, do they? Just because they can't us it…"

Ninten had been distracted by the woman, the Tendas, and the odd mouse-hole in the background, but now he realized that he couldn't reach out to the psionic realm like he normally could.

"This is one of the sanctuaries," Ninten said. "Psionics don't work here, including our auras and our psionic stalls. In this place, we're just as vulnerable as anyone else."

"I'm glad someone's been paying attention," Mary said. "This is the perfect place for me to kill you, actually. Master Giygas has demanded that I retrieve the Sound Stone, and eliminating the competition appears to be a good way to ensure that victory."

Poo stepped forward and raised his fists.

"You shall not find us easy pickings," Poo said. "Even without psionics, we may turn the tides and slay you instead."

"This body is nearly a psionic savant like Lucas," Mary said. "I could take on an army of Dalaamian fighters and leave without a scratch."

"So then what's stopping you?" Ninten asked. "If you're really that confident of your abilities, why are we still standing?"

"Because I am starting to develop human sensitivities," Mary said, pacing back and forth. "I do not know how I feel about that."

After a pause, Mary laughed. It sounded level, calculated, almost robotic.

"That qualifies as human humor, yes?" Mary asked. "I don't know how to feel about my own feelings. Ah, do you humans simply laugh at everything that makes no sense?"

"That or be terrified out of our psyching minds," Ninten said. "When facing you, we take the second option."

"Ah, so I scare you?" Mary asked, stroking her chin. "Interesting…"

"Get onto the point," Kumatora said. "If you don't want to kill us, then you clearly have something to say."

"Very well." Mary extended her right hand towards Ninten. "I propose a trade. Your lives for the knife Dynaldas."

 _Psych,_ Ninten thought. _We need that knife, although with its sister knives Amourus and Phonus, to forge the Sword of Kings._

"Why do you want it?" Ninten asked.

"Ah, but isn't it obvious?" Mary cocked her head and furrowed her eyebrows in an attempt to appear confused. "That knife contains this body's psionic spirit. Her soul, if you prefer. It is difficult for me to control this body while it longs for its spirit."

"But if you insert the spirit back into the body, then it will take over the body," Poo said. "I doubt that you would still be in control."

"I wish to use Mary's spirit to motivate this body," she said. "Behave until we find the Sound Stone and she gets to be whole again. That way, we both win. So do you accept my offer? It does not bother me greatly if I need to kill you and take it for myself, but something inside of this body cringes whenever I slice open someone's throat."

The casual way that Mary talked about killing coupled with her constant smile caused Ninten's heart to skip a beat. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that a starman was controlling that body; no real human could act so _wrong._

"You know," Kumatora said. "I think that this sanctuary bullshit is all just one big bluff. PK Freeze."

Before Ninten could blink, Mary darted backwards as ice formed around the air where she stood not a moment ago. Faster than Ninten could believe, she ran up and slashed Kumatora's throat with a dagger, continuing out of the room and back into the hallway lit by torches.

Looking at Kumatora, Ninten couldn't tell that her throat had been slashed. Her psionic aura absorbed the hit, which shouldn't have been possible in a sanctuary.

Mary stood right outside the Lumine Hall, cocking her head in confusion.

"I suppose that the sanctuaries _wouldn't_ affect Her daughter," Mary said. "I doubt that Master Giygas will be pleased by this oversight… not that he can _ever_ feel pleasure."

Mary laughed again.

"Mind thrust," Kumatora said, pointing a finger at Mary.

"It's no use," Ninten said. "Now that she's outside the Sanctuary, we won't be able to kill her easily."

"Let us run," Poo said. "We have nothing to gain by sticking around."

 _And everything to lose,_ Ninten thought. _If she decides to blast this place with a fireball while we are just as vulnerable as anyone else…_

"But where?" Kumatora asked. "I don't see-"

Poo cut Kumatora off, running towards the mouse hole on the far wall. When he got close, his body shrunk and squished horizontally in a way that made him look like a stick. As he got closer still, he kept getting shorter and his body kept getting thinner.

"My body looks normal from here," Poo said. "You two look like fat giants. Let's go before that woman can think of something else."

Ninten nodded, running after Poo with Kumatora at his side. As he got closer to the mouse hole, it grew larger and wider. The walls around him stretched sideways to the point that a circular beam of light now looked like a skinny oval. As he took his next steps, the world started spinning around him.

"Just a little longer!" Kumatora said, although Ninten suspected she wished to comfort herself as much as him.

Ninten ran for a time, and it didn't look like he was getting any closer. He turned sideways to look at Kumatora, who shrugged. They just had to keep going. Eventually, the now human-sized hole came rushing up to meet Ninten. He let out a scream as the darkness engulfed him.

* * *

Ninten didn't remember much else. His senses tingled to the vague sensation of falling, but even that seemed like a fleeting dream.

An image of Mary looking contemplative was scrawled into his mind, but he didn't remember looking back at her after he started running.

 _After Mary left the bounds of the Sanctuary, she could have killed us with the blink of an eye,_ Ninten thought, his mind numb. _So why didn't she?_

He drifted off into a restless sleep.

* * *

Ninten awoke on top of a fern. He rolled off and saw Poo and Kumatora talking. Were they back in the Deep Darkness?

No. Ninten looked at the trees around him; they were spread out rather than clumped together and they didn't contain nearly as many leaves. He heard sounds of squeaking and saw a pair of rodents scurrying by, although their snouts were more pointed than a rat's. He heard a stomp that shook the earth nearby and let out a yelp.

"Oh hey," Kumatora said. "Look who's awake."

"We made it to the bubble that I was discussing," Poo said, walking up and pulling Ninten to his feet. "Welcome to the Lost Underworld. And… we should probably move out of the way."

Poo pointed behind Ninten, although he shouldn't have bothered. A shadow came over Ninten and Poo, prompting Ninten to look behind him. He yelped far louder than before when he saw what created the shadow:

It was a long-necked, four-legged dinosaur that towered over Ninten like a skyscraper.

"Dinosaurs are still alive in this bubble?" Ninten asked.

"Kids are always thinking about them, aren't they?" Kumatora said. "That makes 'em real in this bubble thingy. Now let's move and find our Sound Stone."

"Where do we start?" Ninten asked. "Does anyone have a clue where it is?"

Kumatora and Poo shook their heads.

"Right," Ninten said. "I guess we should better start moving, then." He looked at the panoramic world of trees, ferns, and massive reptiles in front of him. "After all, we've got a lot of places to search."

 _And we need to beat that Mary to it,_ Ninten thought. _After all, we only escaped from her grasp by a stroke of luck._

How _had_ Kumatora managed to use psionics inside of a sanctuary? Why hadn't Mary followed through with her threats?

Ninten figured that he was about to find out.


	10. Chapter 9: The Captor's Dilema

**Hey, everyone! :) This is my first week back in college... and things are looking a bit more painful this term. The combination of physics and chemistry is rather annoying to deal with. So many numbers ahhhh.**

 **Well, I'll try not to take up too much space this time with my AN. We got talks about technology and weapons this chapter, so I hope that you don't find that stuff terribly boring. :)**

* * *

 **Review Response:**

 **PKTofuMaster:** Ah. Well, your reviews are greatly appreciated! :D Ah, thanks. :) Description's never been my strong suit, but I've decided that describing people is a lot more interesting than describing things. Maybe you've noticed. And warping space isn't just a fantasy thing; you'll see it in sci-fi a bunch as well (and just in science). But yes, the fantasy mechanics are getting more and more hardcore, and they're not really going to let up for a while. :) Tenda village totally creeped me out which is why I depicted it like this haha. And no, I didn't kill Paula just because she dies so easily in the game. Later deaths (or lack thereof) may not follow that trend... ;)

* * *

 _I haven't even spoken much about myself, have I? I guess I don't matter in the grand scope of conflict between Scaraba and Eagleland._

 _I guess the first thing you should know is that I'm trying to save the world one step at a time._

* * *

"Jeff," Claus said in an urgent voice.

Jeff turned around to see Claus swinging the door to the laboratory open. All of the color was drained from his face.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Jeff said.

"Come with me," Claus said. "I have something for you to see."

"I'm kind of busy right now."

"I don't give a psych. Trust me, you want to see this."

Jeff sighed, putting down the glass tubes and psionic crystal in his hand.

"Fine," he said. "But it had better be quick."

"It will only take as long as you want it to," Claus said, gesturing for Jeff to come out of the room.

* * *

Claus led Jeff to an underground part of the complex. Why would Claus take him this way?

"How's the Warden's family doing?" Jeff asked.

"Orange Kid and his mom?" Claus said. "Prisoners."

"Really?" Jeff said. "They're not a threat."

"If you want to talk to Zanine about it, be my guest," Claus said. "But I have another prisoner for you to see. It's someone who you'll probably care more about than the brat or his mom."

Jeff shut his mouth and followed Claus. After looping through several halls, Claus opened a door that lead to a dimly lit room. He motioned for Jeff to enter.

Hesitantly, Jeff stepped inside and looked around. Squinting, he saw a sleeping prisoner chained to a wall.

"A prisoner?" Jeff asked. "This is what you wanted to show me?"

"Take a closer look," Claus said.

Jeff sighed and walked further into the prison room, fearing a trap from Claus. The prisoner's eyes snapped open, pinning Jeff in place.

"Ah," she said. "I never thought I'd see the day."

Jeff's heart skipped a beat. He recognized that voice, although he didn't want to believe his ears.

"Ana!" he said, running up. "What happened?"

"What do you think happened?" Ana said, smiling at Jeff. "I got captured by the Scarabans. Are you here to free me?" Her eyes narrowed. "No, you're working with them. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up."

"Yes I am, but…" Jeff bit his lip. "This isn't what you think it is."

"Oh really?" Ana asked. "Because this looks _exactly_ like how I think it is. I bet you even gave them the bombs that they used to flush us out of our shelter. None of the Scarabans are educated in psionics, after all."

 _Oh, psych,_ Jeff thought. _Why did Zanine have to use them for that?_

"Please, Ana," Jeff said. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"But you did."

"I'm sorry!"

Ana laughed. The sharpness in her laugh nearly cut Jeff's heart open.

"You're apologizing to _me?_ " Ana asked. "Don't waste your psyching time, Jeff. I'm only one person. Making me feel better won't accomplish anything. Unless…" Ana cocked her head. "Unless you're still trying to use me."

 _"Still_ trying to use you?" Jeff said. "It's still me, Ana. I wouldn't even think about manipulating you."

"Everyone _thinks_ of evil," Ana said. "The difference between us and good people is that good people restrain themselves."

"Look," Jeff said. "I can see that this is really tough for you, so is it okay if I come back later?"

"You mean to say that you think I'm in a mood," Ana said. "Throwing a fit like an infant. What if I told you that I always felt this way? What if I told you that I only smile to hide my scars?"

"I… this isn't you," Jeff said. "I _know_ the real Ana. You helped me through so many of my own struggles. You always inspired me to become strong. This _can't_ be who you really are."

Ana closed her eyes and sighed. When her eyes flashed back open, Jeff could see uncharacteristic fear mixed in with sorrow and rage.

"Keep telling yourself that," she said. "If it gives you any comfort, then I guess there's no harm in that lie."

"Ana…"

"I don't blame you for getting me sent here," Ana said. "This is war, after all. Friendship takes the back seat to practicality and strategy. I understand that."

"No!" Jeff said. "I don't believe that at all!"

"You should," Ana said. "Why bother worrying about my one ruined life when you could free hundreds of Scarabans with your little revolution? Is my life more important to theirs?"

"No, but…"

"But nothing. By the numbers, they matter more than I do. So your course of action is correct… if this revolution really will help Scaraba in the long run. I am not convinced that is the case."

"I know it's hard to believe," Jeff said, "But the Eagleish treat Scarabans like slaves. I won't stand by while they suffer!"

"Don't you think I know?" Ana asked. "I fought a war of attrition on Vulcan; I know what the working conditions are like when thrust out of the public eye. But Jeff, you have to see the bigger picture. Did you forget that Giygas threatens the entire universe?"

"I know that what's going on here is _wrong,_ " Jeff said, "And it's my responsibility to stop it. I can make a real difference, Ana."

"Then make a difference by helping us defeat aliens rather than promoting this infighting," Ana said. "I agree that Eagleish rule should be overthrown. But we must do these things diplomatically and after our greater enemy is taken care of. You've studied history before, haven't you? Probably some military history?"

Jeff nodded.

"Tell me this," Ana said. "When a group of people revolt and manage to overthrow the government after a long and bloody war, what happens next?"

 _Life sometimes gets better for regular people,_ Jeff thought, _But it normally doesn't._

"We're fighting for the right side," Jeff said. "We'll figure something out when it's time."

"I've observed the way that these Scarabans act. They're angry and they lack restraint. Most of them took stabs at me because they thought I was Eagleish. After they get rid of Eagleland, who's next?"

"…"

"Scaraba seeks vengeance, retribution," Ana said. "It wants the sands to run red with blood. And that won't just stop at yours and mine."

"You don't understand how hard it is for these people," Jeff said. "They've lived their whole lives under the boot of Eagleland. Wouldn't you be mad?"

"Certainly," Ana said. "And I don't blame them for their anger. Eagleland had it coming. But why are you joining them?"

"Because," Jeff said, turning away and taking a deep breath. "You can't unboil an egg. Sometimes, forces go into motion and you can't stop them. It's better to go with the flow than it is to swim against the current and drown."

Ana barked a laugh.

"I can see why you would think that way," she said. "Considering what going against the flow has cost me. Look at my left arm."

Jeff squinted to make out the details of her arm in the dim light. He couldn't tell for sure, but it looked covered in… scars, perhaps? But that didn't make any sense. Why would she carry scars on her left arm but not her right?

"You are familiar with self-harm practices, yes?" Ana said.

"No!" Jeff said. "You don't mean to say…"

Ana laughed again. The scathing force behind the voice echoed in Jeff's mind.

"I stabbed myself," Ana said. "All these times. I bottle up so much of my anger, you know. It has to go _somewhere._ "

 _But,_ Jeff thought. _You were supposed to be the pillar for us all to lean on. This can't be real._

"How long has this been happening?" Jeff asked.

"Years," Ana said. "Because I would rather delay the inevitable for as long as I can. I'm broken, but I can patch up my wounds and hobble along for another day. We should do that to Scaraba for now until we can address the root problem."

"I'm sorry," Jeff said. "But I can't accept that."

"I see," Ana said, not sounding surprised. "Well, this is war. Closer friendships than ours have broken in the past, and it will continue to be this way for all eternity. Just remember," Ana's eyes narrowed. "You were willing to hand weapons over to an emotionally unstable woman to bomb a civilian's house. I don't fault you for that, but I won't hesitate to do worse to you in the future."

"Meaning…"

"Meaning that if I escape, I'll hunt you down and capture you so that _my_ side gains access to the destruction that your mind can create."

"That's cold," Jeff said, clutching his chest as he took a step back.

"I would think you'd be used to the cold, growing up in Winters," Ana said. "I spent my early childhood in a northern American town called Snowman. I learned that there are some things you have to do to survive the winter. I'm a survivor, Jeff, and I'll use any tool in my arsenal to ensure that my side keeps living."

 _Oh, psych,_ Jeff thought. _She's dead serious._

"I'm sorry," Jeff said. "But I have to go."

He didn't even try to retain his dignity as he ran towards the dungeon exit.

"Yes, better get back to work," Ana whispered. "Those bombs aren't going to make themselves."

* * *

"How did it go?" Claus asked. "You look like a ghost, so I'm assuming not well."

"I can't believe it," Jeff said.

"That Ana got captured? Yeah, she doesn't seem like the type."

"Not that. She was hiding so much pain from us all this time."

"You couldn't tell?" Claus asked, raising an eyebrow. "The nicest people are always the ones who hurt the most. They don't want anyone else to know their pain."

"Nobody ever told me that," Jeff said. "And Ana sides against Scaraba, even though she knows exactly what's going on here. Can you believe it?"

"Yeah I can believe it," Claus said. "I talked to her about the exact same thing before I called for you. She makes a convincing argument."

"If you believe her, then why are you still here?"

"Because I never wanted to join you," Claus said. "I listen. I watch. I judge. It comes in handy sometimes. I think it was good for you to see her half-naked with her hands clamped to the wall above her head. Not necessarily the higher standard of morality that Zanine described."

"Her condition is temporary," Zanine said, startling Jeff with her sudden appearance. "I do not wish to see human beings suffer any more than you do, Claus. But you know how psionics works, yes? If she is allowed to move her arms, she can use her abilities to escape. It is either that or her mouth."

"Please, can't you give her a little bit more?" Jeff asked. "If we explain the situation to her, she'll respect her captivity and promise not to escape if you keep her in a better cell."

"I'm sure she'll promise," Zanine said, "And then she'll flee once we turn our backs. Did you even listen to what she said? She's willing to use any tool in her arsenal to get what she wants. People like that are dangerous."

"Says the person who was clearly scrying on Jeff's conversation without his knowledge," Claus said.

Zanine stiffened.

"I am not used to being accused in such a manner," she said. "You would do well to watch your words, psychic warrior. I can snap and you'll be surrounded by three psions."

"Ah yes, your two little minions," Claus said. "Cyrus and Xerxes, named after the kings of old. Tell me, do they actually have wills of their own or do you pull the strings in their brain?"

"Please, stop it," Jeff said. "Both of you."

Zanine and Claus turned towards Jeff, although Zanine took the opportunity to shoot a glare at Claus.

"Listen," Jeff said. "I know that we're all on the same side here. Can we try to accept each other's views and move on?"

"I'm not so sure that he's on our side," Zanine said. "Since when has he contributed anything?"

"For once, I have to agree," Claus said. "I am a neutral party. If you Scarabans get attacked, don't expect me to help."

"Then leave," Zanine said, her frigid eyes causing Jeff to flinch.

"I will if you make me," Claus said, smiling back at Zanine's icy gaze. "Feel free to force me out of this complex with your little henchmen. But what message does that send? I thought that the _Eagleish_ were supposed to look down on foreigners."

Claus kept the smile on his face as he walked away, his departure daring Zanine to act. The Scaraban psion muttered something under her breath in Persian.

"I cannot stand him," Zanine said.

"That's what people who meet him usually say," Jeff said. "Ninten felt that way at first. He'll grow on you."

"I sure hope so." Zanine snorted. "But I didn't come to pick bones with that boy." She frowned. "Is that a valid expression that you Eagleish use?"

"Close enough," Jeff said. "What does bring you here?"

"It's about your bottle rockets," Zanine said.

The words hit Jeff like a punch in the gut. Zanine had used his bottle rockets to capture Ana.

"I'm sorry, Jeff," Zanine said. "I didn't know that Ana was your friend."

"And if you had, would it have changed anything?" Jeff asked. "Or would you have gone through with the attack anyway?"

Zanine didn't respond.

"Psych it!" Jeff said. "Are you serious?"

"Please," Zanine said. "You must understand-"

"Oh, I think I understand perfectly well," Jeff said. "It doesn't matter how I want the weapons to be used, even though I created them. Because you're influential, you get to decide who lives and who dies like you're some sort of god."

"Will you listen?" Zanine asked, gritting her teeth. "The order to capture Ana was not mine."

"What?" Jeff said. "Then who…?"

"Who would demand the capture of a teenage girl with psionic powers?" Zanine finished for him. "It was my husband. Bahram cares little for sentimental matters, I'm afraid. He saw Miss Aniah as a potential enemy, and he is the type to take action. I am sorry that it led to this."

"Oh," Jeff said. "I'm sorry for blowing up at you, then."

"I understand," Zanine said, putting her motherlike smile back on. "It must be hard for you to deal with the poor conditions that your friend is being kept in. She doesn't treat you kindly, from what I heard. If I were in your place, I would have cracked before now."

"I think she's just having a tough time too," Jeff said. "You can't really blame her for getting angry after she got captured."

"Perhaps, but…"

"But what?" Jeff asked.

"I am not positive, but it appears that your reluctance to judge her comes from how she helped you in the past." Zanine looked Jeff in the eye. "Yet even she admitted that her actions before were a façade. Could it be that you do not wish to admit how far lost your friend Ana has always been?"

Jeff clenched his fists. He _wasn't_ in denial, psych it!

"I'm sorry," Zanine said. "That was a little far."

"No," Jeff said, barely getting the word out through his stiff jaw. "You're free to voice your theories and opinions. Still, I feel like she's just in a bad mood right now. I'm sure that there's some truth behind what she's saying, but I think that she's exaggerating it."

 _And what about the scars?_ Jeff asked himself. _She's been stabbing herself for years. Can you really dismiss that?_

"It is wise to listen, even when you disagree," Zanine said. "You know how to take unsavory opinions and craft them into your own. Which leads me to my next question…"

 _Oh, this will be great,_ Jeff thought.

"Bahram approves of your bottle rockets and wishes to produce more of them. Is there any way to get some of the Scaraban civilians involved in their production? It would quicken the process and leave you with more time to address other matters."

Jeff should have seen that question coming from a mile away.

"I know that it's hard to give away the secrets of your invention to someone else," Zanine said, "But think of how much more time you'll have if civilians take care of the matter for you."

 _Think of how many more bombs we'll be able to make,_ Jeff heard laced between the words.

"Fine," Jeff said. "So long as we restrain it to civilians who don't really know what they're doing. We can create an assembly line so that no one person knows how to create an entire bottle rocket. That way we can keep my complete methods a secret for a little while longer. How does that sound?"

"Perfect," Zanine said. "Thank you for being willing to compromise?"

 _Why do I get the feeling that I just made a massive mistake?_ Jeff asked himself.

"Wait!" Jeff said as Zanine was walking away. "I have one more condition."

"Yes?" Zanine waited attentively.

"Were there any other psions with Ana? A shy boy with dark hair?"

Zanine's eyes flashed with recognition. Jeff smiled to himself; he knew that Ana would never be found far away from her boyfriend.

"He escaped, didn't he?" Jeff asked. "Ana probably sacrificed herself to keep him safe."

"That is not quite what happened, but you are close," Zanine said.

"His name is Ness," Jeff said. "And you tell your husband that if he wants me to get civilians involved in manufacturing weapons, he needs to leave Ness alone. Make sure everyone in the entire psyching army knows not to capture the dark-haired Eagleish boy. Otherwise, you can kiss this all goodbye."

"You care about him that much?" Zanine said, raising an eyebrow. "I suppose I won't question it. I will make that happen. Your friend will be safe for as long as you cooperate with us."

As Zanine resumed her exit, a sinking feeling entered Jeff's stomach.

 _What she means,_ he thought, _is that if I leave them, they're free to capture Ness. I gave them free information on how to hit me where it hurts._

Suddenly, demanding the protection of Ness didn't seem like such a great plan.

* * *

Jeff spent the next few weeks on more mundane tasks. True to his word, he organized a miniature factory for civilians to help produce more bottle rockets. And true to Zanine's word, there was no news about Ness.

Jeff visited Ana nearly every day. Despite Zanine's insistence that chaining her to a wall was "temporary," her hands were clamped in irons above her every day. After the first few visits, she started to soften up and talk to Jeff about her worries. In particular, she was afraid of Ness getting captured and subjected to her current treatment. When Jeff told her that he demanded that the Scarabans leave him alone, she started to tear up and thanked him several times.

Afterwards, she made it clear that she would still capture him into making bombs for Ceres if she got the chance.

Jeff passed some of the time by manufacturing more laser guns for himself, although he didn't know what he would possibly use them for. He tried to connect with Zanine's right and left hand psions Cyrus and Xerxes, who were hesitant to share details of their personal life. All Jeff learned was that Cyrus had a wife and kids in a small Scaraban village and that Xerxes' parents died working in the limestone mines.

Zanine tried to socialize with him, but something about her words always made it clear that she wanted something from him. To her, Jeff was a tool. A valuable tool to be treasured, perhaps, but a tool al the same. He couldn't stand talking to her if it wasn't about business.

Jeff resolved to gain a better understanding of the current situation in Scaraba. Had Zanine's revolution really helped people? Despite his initial fears, he found that Scaraba had become a far happier place than when he first arrived. While nobody wished to chat with someone they suspected of being Eagleish, Jeff observed the markets for hours on end and found that these Scarabans generally treated each other well, making meaningful conversation and offering favors or discounts.

However, not every place was quite as happy. While the city of Fiven thrived, the outside villages bordering limestone quarries struggled to remain afloat. While they had been horribly treated by Eagleish rule, the new rules for limestone cutters were inconsistent and in some cases nonexistent. Zanine sent money to some of the villages to pay for imports of limestone, but she admitted that the Scarabans had no real need for the stuff. She mentioned trading some with Eagleland, but given the current tension between the two countries Jeff didn't bother to hope for that proposition to become anything other than wishful thinking.

Nineteen days after his first visit with Ana, Zanine interrupted his normal flow of events with an announcement. She led Jeff and Claus to a balcony overlooking the Scaraban Sea to the north. In the distance, Jeff could make out hundreds of wooden warships carrying the Eagleish flag.

"Great work," Claus said. "You've got the Eagleish navy on your hands. What do you intend to do now, Zanine? Excuse me, what does your _husband_ mean to do?"

Zanine frowned, studying Claus' face.

"He has already issued a response," Zanine said. "Thanks to Jeff's agreement to mass-produce his bottle rockets, we are prepared to deal with this threat. We started manufacturing rockets made of steel rather than glass so that they wouldn't shatter as easily under a large amount of force."

"But that was kind of the point," Jeff said. "With a steel tube, you'll have to get a massive impact to set off an explosion."

"That is exactly what we plan to do," Zanine said. "Because the steel can withstand a greater force, we can launch the rockets far higher than we could with the glass ones. By the same token, it will also have more force when falling."

The color drained from Claus' face.

"You're not planning on fighting them at all," Claus said. "You're going to bomb the psych out of them from all the way over here."

"That is the plan, yes," Zanine said.

 _Oh, psych,_ Jeff thought. _This is getting out of control more quickly than I thought._

"Jeff," Claus said, grabbing Jeff's collar. "You need to shut this down. Now."

A moment later, an unknown force sent Claus flying backwards and landing on the ground. He hopped to his feet with a snarl. Xerxes and Cyrus walked out onto the balcony between Jeff and Claus.

"You two had better not even _think_ about getting in my way," Claus said.

"Tough words from a boy too innocent to know what real power is," Xerxes said.

"Oh, do you want to try me?" Claus asked, drawing his sword.

"Nobody's going to fight anyone," Zanine said.

"Exactly!" Claus said. "That's why there's a problem. There's no combat in bombing enemy ships. There's no regard for life. During the times of the empire, few people were actually killed in direct combat. Most of the casualties occurred when one side retreated while the other side cut of and slaughtered them. I thought that Scaraba was supposed to be better than that."

 _Better than slaughtering people who can't fight back…_ the thought made Jeff sick to his stomach.

"But if these Eagleish are allowed to reach shores, they could kill Scaraban civilians and soldiers," Jeff said. "Either way, we're risking a lot of life."

"They _could_ slaughter the helpless," Claus said. "But if you convince yourself that your enemies are heartless killers, you can justify _anything._ "

"Your opinion means nothing," Zanine said. Turning to Jeff, "My husband awaits confirmation from you. You are the one who bestowed this knowledge upon us, so you should be the one to make this decision."

"Don't let them psyching do it!" Claus shouted. "This is how the pigmasks razed Aphrodite to the ground. I wish that I could show you what Tazmily looked like after their invasion. If you had only seen the desolation, the howling wind…" Claus closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Everything living had been cut down or burned. _Everything,_ Jeff."

"We are far different from a group of uncultured fascists," Zanine said. "And keep in mind that my Bahram makes no promises to protect Ness if you stop providing us with weapons. The choice is yours to make, but I hope you understand the consequences."

"Is it really a choice if you're holding a sword to my throat?" Jeff asked.

"Not your throat," Zanine said. "What we are doing by protecting Ness on your behalf is already creating dissent within our own ranks. He is an enemy psion, and by all rights we deserve a shot to neutralize his threat. We are already being generous by ignoring his existence while you assist us."

"Fine," Jeff said, the word coming out colder than he intended. "Do it. Use the rockets."

"Have you gone psyching insane?" Claus asked. "You just condemned thousands of people to death."

"Somebody was going to invent non-psionic missiles anyway," Jeff said. "I would rather them be used to keep a country free than enslave one."

"Oh, so this isn't about Ness at all?" Claus demanded. "I care about him as much as you do, but he's not worth a thousand lives!"

Jeff imagined the terrified look on Ness' face if Zanine were to capture him and bind him to a wall. He couldn't face that pleading face no matter what.

"This isn't just about Ness," Jeff said, turning away from Claus. "This was bound to happen. Accept this technological progress or get swept to the side. Those are my two choices."

"Then take the second one, psych it!" Claus said. "Can't you see that this isn't _right?_ "

 _Oh, Claus,_ Jeff thought. _If only the world were that simple. But I don't have a psion's strength like you. I'm just trying to win a war in the only way that I know how._

"Send the message to fire," Zanine said. "We have enough cannons to take down the entire fleet in just a few rounds."

Xerxes and Cyrus nodded, teleporting away.

 _Cannons?_ Jeff thought. _Oh, they must have designed the rockets to fit a cannon. I should have supervised my little factory more closely to make sure things didn't get out of hand._

"Wait!" Jeff said. "Can't we just bomb a few and wait for them to retreat?"

"If we only bomb a few, then the rest will advance and land on our shores," Zanine said.

"Fine. We bomb them until they start to retreat. But once they do, we don't fire a single bottle rocket, you hear?"

Zanine raised an eyebrow.

"My husband will not be happy with that demand."

"I don't care," Jeff said. "Claus is right. We can't turn into the pigmasks. We'll show the Eagleish navy mercy. If they try to attack us again you can fire more rockets, but when they're actively retreating we won't harm them. Got it?"

"When did you get all assertive?" Zanine asked with a heavy sigh. "Very well. I shall inform him of your request. Teleport."

As Zanine vanished from sight, Jeff could feel Claus' singular eye boring into the back of his skull.

"This is _your_ doing," Claus said. "Just remember that."

Missiles soared through the air, tiny grey specks against the entire blue sky. How could something so small cause so much destruction?

"Here it comes," Claus said.

Most missiles landed in the water, but a few hit ships and exploded, engulfing the ships in flames.

"Look at all the death," Claus said.

Jeff turned away.

"Look at it!" Claus grabbed Jeff's head and turned it back towards the fires on the sea. "Psych it, you at least owe them that much."

Jeff tried to jerk his head back; Claus held it in place. Jeff struck out with his fist and hit only breastplate.

"Why does it matter?" Jeff asked. "They're dead anyway. Some of them aren't even dead since most of them can probably swim."

"When you kill someone, you need to look them in the eye and see the look on their face. If you can't bear to see yourself taking everything away from them, then you shouldn't be killing in the first place."

Jeff slouched, no longer resisting Claus' attempts to force him to watch. He saw about thirty ships go down before the others retreated; his heart throbbed for each one.

"There," Claus said, releasing Jeff from his grip. "Your Scarabans slaughtered defenseless people. You saw the ships go up in flames. Do you still think that this is justified?"

"Yes," Jeff said. "No civilians were harmed this way. Ness stays safe. We still showed mercy to those who desired it."

"Then I suppose your heart hasn't taught you anything at all."

Claus turned around and swung the door to the inside of the complex building open. He turned back to look at Jeff with his single eye.

"Remember this moment," he said.

He entered the building from the balcony and slammed the door shut.


	11. Chapter 10: The Thunder of Ceres

**Hey, everyone! It's been like three weeks since I updated, but no I'm not dead. :) I'll manage to chug through this story... eventually. All of your reviews are much appreciated, though! :D**

 **Anyways, like I mentioned earlier all of the rough drafts for this story are done (and I've actually written a different book in between finishing the rough drafts and now :O), and they were finished before the election. Looking at my writing after the election... it's significantly darker than this haha. And I wouldn't exactly call what's going on now "light." :)**

 **So we're back to Ness for this chapter, and hopefully you won't be too hard on him for his... lack of decisiveness. There's actually a psychological concept called "decision fatigue" that theorizes that the brain starts to tire after taking charge and making lot of little decisions, and those little decisions stack up when Ness is alone in a hostile country.**

 **Now it's time to answer the reviews! :D**

* * *

 **Cattlesnake:** Ah, thanks! :) A character who hasn't killed someone... hmm. Well, Ness hasn't killed anyone _recently_ and vowed to remain a pacifist after slaughtering hundreds of cultists. I guess that's about as close as it gets haha. Still, I think that's pretty normal for books with a more military focus; I'm just trying to make things different by putting our heroes on opposite sides of the conflict. Not sure if you like the depressing/violent undertones, but I take a lot of inspiration in that regard from the fantasy books I read. I could recommend some, if you want... and not all of them are as dark as my fics (although some are significantly darker). :) But thanks for your reviews; I really appreciate them! :D

 **PKTofuMaster:** I mean, I feel like I kind of have to defend Jeff here. Without some technological advancement, Scaraba is absolutely _fucked_ and Jeff knows it. Zanine's regime, as benevolent as she tries to make it out to be, is ultimately unstable. Without colonial Eagleland controlling the land, Scaraba doesn't have the economic prowess to be... well, much of anything. The people were discontent because they're weak and starving, and that doesn't change when Zanine takes power. Zanine will fall and another outside force will leech off the land. But with modern weaponry, they become a force to be reckoned with. Scaraba has to use the military as a crutch because it has nothing else.

...But that being said, it didn't exactly turn out great. :( And the prologue wasn't quite the bombing; it was a starman attack where Hinawa lost her life a few years earlier. That will be explained more in the future. But yes, it was quite traumatic for Claus to watch his planet go up in flames. :( And we're talking about Ness this chapter (and seeing a bit more of Ana), although his actions aren't exactly heroic...

* * *

 _I also am not afraid of solitude. My mother Zanine was usually off on her own projects, so I spent quite a bit of my childhood alone. I am more independent at 18 than most people will ever be._

 _I'm just playing the role set out for me. Another person in my situation might end up in the same place. I am seen by some as a hero, and by others a villain. Neither view of me is truly correct._

 _I'm just a product of my environment._

* * *

f

Ness' first move was to make his way through Fiven, forming a mental map of the Scaraban city in his head. He made a point to avoid the area where Darius worked and the former Eagleish military complex. Ness didn't wish to be spotted by a Scaraban soldier or sensed by a psion.

He asked himself several times what he was trying to accomplish. Familiarizing himself with Fiven wouldn't help him save Ana, at least not as much as heading directly off on a rescue mission. But whenever he thought about approaching what was now the Scaraban military complex, his fears turned him around and sent him walking in the other direction. He envisioned dozens of possible outcomes that ranged from getting captured along with Ana to breaking in only to find her gory remains.

Simply put, Ness was too much of a coward to help anyone.

He _tried_ to force himself to think about rescuing Ana; he honestly did. But within a few minutes each time, he found himself thinking about his own problems. Where would he stay tonight? What would happen if someone asked him a question in Scaraban and he couldn't understand them? What if a Scaraban soldier recognized his pale skin and Eagleish accent and decided to attack him? Each one of those fears weighed down on Ness like bricks.

Ness sniffled as tears of self-anger ran down his cheeks. He hadn't conquered the fear back on Vulcan after all.

He decided to take baby steps. After hours of walking, he decided to check out an inn. He had walked past dozens on his journey and used the mental skills that he learned on Ceres to remember each one. He went back to the one that looked the most Eagleish and entered. The innkeeper addressed him in Scaraban first but switched over to Eagleish when he realized that he was giving Ness a panic attack.

Ness could tell that the innkeeper could sense his desperation and decided to charge a ridiculous amount of money. Ness bought a room anyway under the condition that the innkeeper wouldn't tell anyone else about his visit. Ness ate a simple dinner of rice and beans before going to bed right when the sun went down.

He awoke the next morning and could hardly force himself to get out of bed. Living on his own in a foreign city without Ana's help for even just a day was the hardest thing that he had ever done, and now he had to go through with it _again._ Ness hustled out of the inn at the crack of dawn and made it down to the Nile River, where he hoped to find some privacy.

Privacy, however, was the last thing to be found in the Nile. Ness couldn't find a single spot along the river where people weren't gathering water, fishing, or even bathing. A canker sore in Ness' mouth started throbbing. Ness ran up to a relatively open spot on the banks of the Nile and threw up. His body must have been trying to expel his anxiety but settled for yesterday's dinner instead. Ness gripped his stomach and quivered, attracting glances. He ran back into the inn, entered his room, and closed the door behind him.

How could he _possibly_ deal with this for another day? Walking in the streets of such a dangerous and unfamiliar place had already taken its toll. Ness felt an almost obsessive crave for a space where he knew that he would be safe, but no such place existed for an Eagleish boy in the city of Fiven. This room would be as close as he would get. Ness used concentration techniques that he learned on Ceres to calm his mind and focus his efforts. Even though he didn't need the focus to manifest psionics like the drills were meant for, he would take every edge that he could get.

The second day was easier, and the third day was easier still. He still felt the anxiety, but it dulled in the back of his mind instead of assaulting him straight on. He grew used to flinching from touching a canker sore with his tongue and barfing up some of his meals when he felt especially anxious. It became hard to remember what "safe" even felt like. Ness grew more and more paranoid, avoiding everyone that he could on the streets and fading away into the alleys whenever someone asked if he was okay.

These behaviors didn't match his personality, he knew. He remembered the Runaway Five member Keyboar talking about how everyone put on masks to match what was expected of them. For the first time, Ness understood what he meant. The mask that he now wore didn't change who he was on the inside; he was still quiet, shy, and passive. But he acted in the way that was expected of an outlaw because many people treated him that way. It got harder and harder to remember why he shouldn't steal.

Ness was both comforted and horrified by these revelations. He knew that acting paranoid and avoiding social contact would help him survive until he could figure out a way to rescue Ana, but he didn't want to turn into someone who refused to help others.

At this point, Ness realized that he couldn't keep living in Scaraba alone and afraid. He needed to make a move and take control of his destiny. Wearing a cloak to hide his features as always, Ness traveled over to the Scaraban military complex that still held its Eagleish appearance from when Warden Aniah held control of Scaraba.

Ness spotted about a dozen brick buildings; Ana could be hidden in any one. Guards patrolled the area, examining Scaraban civilians that passed by. With the strict surveillance of the new Scaraban military, Ness wondered if the takeover had even been meant to help Scaraba. Perhaps the leader of the Scaraban rebels was like General Kim of Dalaam in that they sought power and control.

With all of Ness' speculation, though, he still couldn't find the place where Ana had been taken… if she were even still alive. Ness didn't want to think about the alternative. So far as he was concerned, Ana was alive, well, and waiting for someone to rescue her.

How could Ness possibly infiltrate an entire military base to find her? And even then, what would he do? His psychokinetics were rather weak; if Ana were locked up in a cell he wouldn't have a way to free her without the key. Besides, Ana had wanted for him to escape and survive. Would she approve of him putting himself back in danger? Probably not.

So as Ness looked between the brick buildings of the Scaraban military complex, he realized that he was once again out of ideas. Right when he was about to break down in tears, he saw ships bearing the Eagleish flag off in the distance. It had already been a couple of weeks since Ness and Ana had originally teleported to Scaraba, so it made sense that Pirkle's forces would arrive soon. Ness resolved to wait until the Eagleish forces arrived. Maybe he could work with them to free Ana.

* * *

A few days later, the ships were still there. Ness supposed that they must be waiting on orders from Pirkle or gathering more information. Perhaps the ships' position was supposed to serve as a threat to the Scarabans: _If you do not hand control of the city back over to us, we will burn it down._

One of the ships caught fire, interrupting Ness' train of thought. He squinted, trying to make out how the ship had apparently combusted itself. There was no way for the Scarabans to set fire to a ship that was close to a mile away, right?

Ness heard the sound of cannons firing. He saw missiles soar up into the sky, arcing down and landing in the sea. Most of them only hit water, but a few landed on target and blew holes in the Eagleish ships. Ness gasped, watching in horror as the Scarabans fired off more missiles. Eventually, the Eagleish ships retreated and the Scarabans stopped firing, but not before a dozen ships broke down and sunk.

 _How can there possibly be such power in the universe?_ Ness thought. _At least, such power without psionics._

Is this what the universe would be like if everyone was a psion? Would anyone be able to light a fuse and end several lives almost a mile away? Ness didn't know how to deal with even the thought, and it was about to become reality.

 _Well, there goes any chance I have of saving Ana. If the Scarabans can sink an entire navy from afar, a psion in training won't be more than a distraction._

With the knowledge that he couldn't possibly fight the Scaraban military, Ness resorted to his final option:

Running away.

* * *

Ness walked up to Darius' stand. Since it was late in the evening, his charity wasn't generating as much activity. Ness waited until nobody was nearby to approach. Darius looked back and forth to check for other people.

"Looks like everyone's gone," Darius said. "Except for you, that is, and you're the last person I expected to see here."

"Really?" Ness said. "The last?"

"Forgive my exaggeration." Darius bowed in a dramatic way that Ness assumed was meant to mock him. "To be honest, I had no idea that you were still in Scaraba."

"Where else would I go?" Ness asked.

"Steal a ship and head back to Eagleland. Try to rescue your girlfriend and get yourself killed. You seem like the type to do one of the two."

Ness frowned. He hadn't remembered Darius being this rude.

"Just poking fun," Darius said. "Seriously, though, I hardly recognize you. With every word you speak, it sounds like you want to break something."

"Perhaps I do," Ness said.

"I wouldn't blame you," Darius said. "You want some food?"

Ness shook his head. Darius took a bite out of a mango.

"Suit yourself," he said. "Someone's looking out for you, by the way. All of the Scaraban soldiers got strict orders to ignore you unless you attack them first."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Ness said. "Ana isn't in a position to make an order like that."

After a moment, Ness realized what had happened.

"You figure it out?" Darius asked. "You looked like someone waking up out of a nightmare."

"It has to be Jeff, Claus, and Ninten," Ness said. "I hadn't even thought about them. I know they're here, but I haven't seen them anywhere. I guess they're working with the Scaraban military." Ness gasped. "And that's why they have the missiles! Jeff must have created them."

"Missiles?" Darius asked.

Ness explained what happened to the Eagleish fleet.

"Oh, psych," Darius said, his eyes widening. "Eagleland will be mad. I thought that my mother had more foresight than this."

"Your mother?" Ness said.

"Zanine. She's the leader of the Scaraban military. Well, her husband is supposed to be, but he's dead and buried. She pretends that he's alive and enacting harsh provisions so that she can deflect the blame when she wants to get her hands dirty."

"Oh," Ness said. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?"

"That your dad died. My dad's gone as well."

Darius laughed.

"Zanine's husband isn't my dad. General Kim was my dad, remember? I killed him myself. I'm sorry about your father, though. I know what it's like to grow up without parents." Darius looked away. "It's not a fate that I would wish upon my worst enemy."

"I… see," Ness said, unsure of how to respond.

"Ah, psych it," Darius said. "I'm not responsible for Zanine. She can deal with the backlash herself."

"How do you think that Eagleland will strike back?" Ness asked.

"Not Eagleland," Darius said. "Ceres. Don't you detect the psionic aura that's approaching us?"

Now that Darius mentioned it, Ness sensed a psion hiding around the corner of the street. A man wearing Ceresian robes stepped out into the street, chuckling to himself. Ness recognized the man as Benjamin Minch, one of the psions who had attempted to stop "terrorism" by abusing people back on Vulcan. Even in the dim light, Ness could see Ben Minch's round face and messy, blond hair well enough to think of Pokey. And of course, all thoughts of Pokey came with stings in his chest.

"Not bad," Ben said. "Listen, just who are you? I can't get a psyching read on you."

"Me?" Ness said.

Ben Minch sneered, walking up and picking up a falafel ball. He popped it into his mouth and chewed.

"I don't know about customs on Ceres, but in Scaraba it is rude to take food without asking," Darius said, staring Ben Minch straight in the eye.

"Did that get you riled up?" Ben smiled. "Well then. It's about time that you showed me something."

"Please," Darius said, his voice growing dangerously soft. "Don't try to act clever. I think we both know that a monkey could do a better job at manipulation."

Ben Minch coughed and spit out the falafel all over the table. Darius slammed his hands on the table, murder in his eyes.

"Hey, I thought you were a pacifist," Ben Minch said. "But either way, that insult against my intelligence is basically a declaration of war."

"You, my friend, will explain to me what Ceres plans to do regarding Fiven," Darius said. "How did you get the memo so quickly?"

"I mean, we have the best means of transmitting information in the universe," Ben Minch said. "And now we've got a whole battalion of Ceresian psions here who will come at the snap of my fingers." Ben snapped for extra effect.

"Ah, psych," Darius said. "I fear that the fop is telling the truth. Zanine cannot possibly hope to hold back Ceres' wrath."

"Then maybe she shouldn't have sunk the Eagleish fleet," Ben Minch said.

"What should we do?" Ness asked.

"When did this become 'we'?" Darius said. "So far as I'm concerned, our agendas do not necessarily line up. Will you abandon Ana by siding with Zanine and the rebels against Ceres?"

"I don't know," Ness said. "I'm bad at making decisions."

"Now would be a good time to learn," Darius said. "As for me, I'm pulling out."

"Pulling out?" Ness said. "What do you mean?"

"I'm leaving Scaraba with as many people as I can take," Darius said. "You've seen what Ceres did to Vulcan, Ness. This will be the exact same."

"Then why don't you try to stop it?" Ness asked.

"Do I look like Minerva psyching Carpainter?" Darius replied, packing up the food that Ben hadn't spit on. "There's an entire legion of psions. It might take them a while to arrive, true. They may need to board a flight to arrive at Earth. That should give us another day, maybe two. But do you think that you can stand against the might of Ceres?"

"We can try!" Ness said.

"Then you're an idiot," Darius said. "I'm going to retreat now so that I can hit Ceres where it hurts. You want my suggestion? Fight with the fop and the rest of Monotoli's toadies. Convince them to spare as many lives as you can. Get your girlfriend back. Go on and live happily ever after."

"But what about Scaraba?" Ness said. "Won't that just leave it to suffer more?"

"We'll draw these psions back to Ceres soon enough," Darius said, packing up the rest of his food. "Right now, I will show you how serious I am."

Darius flipped the table over and lunged at Benjamin Minch. The Ceresian psion reacted slowly, throwing up his hands in defense. Darius slid low and swept his leg into the back of Ben's kneecaps, causing them to buckle. As Ben Minch collapsed to the ground, Darius stretched out and caught him with his right hand. With his left, Darius grabbed an iron clamp from his pocket and slammed it over Ben Minch's mouth. The Ceresian psion whimpered.

"Try to run and I'll do worse," Darius said. "And of course you can't use psionics without uttering incantations from that flappy mouth of yours. You really are stupid, you know. Walking into Scaraba and treating all Scarabans like trash will get you worse than a clamp over your mouth in most places."

Ben's face reddened with anger. Darius snorted and rolled his eyes.

"I despise noble dandies," Darius said. "Well, nobody _likes_ them, but I hate people like you especially. So don't push me, lemon-head."

 _Lemon-head?_ Ness thought. _Because Ben Minch has blond hair?_

"He probably knows more about Ceres' plans that I can discover through interrogation," Darius told Ness. "Besides, I cannot let him go free and blab to Monotoli about what he heard."

"So will you do the same to me?" Ness asked. "I also heard everything."

"I can tell that you do not like Monotoli," Darius said.

"You also implied that you would bring war to Ceres. I'm not sure that I approve of that, either."

"It's almost like you want me to kidnap you."

"You're smarter than I am," Ness said. "I know you've thought of this. I just want to know why."

"Such confidence," Darius said. "When we first met, I could hardly get you to speak a word. I guess you had a little growing up to do when your girlfriend got captured."

"I'm not confident," Ness said. "I'm just tired of playing games."

Darius nodded, his eyes turning wistful.

"I'll tell you the truth, then," he said. "I don't mind you saying everything that you heard to Monotoli. I don't care if he said everything he heard to Monotoli." Dairus shoved his thumb at Ben Minch. "Ceres can do nothing against what my side has. With starmen lining our ranks, Monotoli will be toppled off his throne within weeks."

"Starmen?" Ness said. "That means…"

"Yes. I work for Giygas. Same as my mother. Same as my father."

"That's crazy!" Ness said. "Giygas is the embodiment of evil!"

"Giygas is a tool," Darius said, turning away. "A notable scholar I read called him an 'all-powerful idiot.' He cannot understand my motivations, nor does he care. He is powerful enough to grant troops to whoever asks just to get us out of his face. He acts so far above us humans that I can predict his every move."

"Giygas took one of my friends away," Ness said. "And turned him into a psionic savant."

Darius froze. Slowly he turned his head back towards Ness.

"A psionic savant?" he said. "You don't mean…"

"Yes, I do!" Ness said. "He turned one of my friends into a killing machine capable of taking out anyone in the universe. Tell me, Darius, did you predict _that?_ "

Darius gritted his teeth, turning back away.

"I am sorry for your friend," he said. "I know the feeling."

"That's it?" Ness said. "You're _sorry?_ But you're still going to follow Giygas."

"Listen," Darius said. "Giygas does terrible things. But you worked for Minerva Carpainter, who bombed an entire planet into oblivion. You don't see me getting on your case about that."

"I didn't know," Ness said.

"And once you did know, did you stop working for Ceres?"

"I only kept going because I wanted to reform Ceres from the inside."

"And what makes you think I'm any different?" Darius asked. "We cannot beat Giygas, Ness. All that we can do is fight for the winning side and minimize the destruction. One person cannot take on the universe by himself."

"Or herself," Ness added, thinking of Ana.

"Whatever," Darius said. "The point is that you're trying to swim up a river. You feel like you're making progress, but you'll still drown without ever getting upstream. But hey," Darius turned his head back halfway, a sad smile on his lips. "I can respect someone who wants to die for a cause. Don't follow me, all right?"

Darius walked away, dragging Ben Minch along with him.

"Wait!" Ness said, running after him.

"When I said don't follow me, I meant it literally," Darius said. "Please, just leave me alone."

"Can't you help Scaraba? This is your homeland, right?"

"A homeland that has given me no cause to love it. If you grew up on the streets of Fourside, do you think that you would help the Eagleish government if it started to crumble? I think not."

"But Zanine is your mother."

"She's made her choices, and I'm making mine," Darius said. "I thought I told you not to follow me."

Darius walked into a house and shut the door behind him.

 _What am I doing?_ Ness thought. _A few weeks ago, I would never stand up to someone like that._

Ness once again harkened back to Keyboar's conversation about masks. Ness was acting confident and bothersome because that was the role given to him. Without Ana to back him up, he needed to speak twice as loudly to get his message out.

But he could still make that attitude work. Ness followed Darius into the house. He didn't know what to expect, but the bustling of children inside still caught him by surprise. Dozens of children shouted and ran through the house, carrying a few belongings that they held close to their chests.

"You really don't know when to quit, do you?" Darius asked.

Four children were huddled around Darius, looking up at him with desperate eyes.

"What is this?" Ness asked. "Do you run your own orphanage?"

"These children never had a chance," Darius said. "This is why I can't stand it when people say that we can control our fates. I've seen too many people who were born into a world of conflict. They breathe pain and die young, never having seen anything but the thin slice of life that involves crime and neglect. And people still say that we can always control what happens to us."

"Darius," Ness said. "I…"

"Whenever I see a child who looks at me with those empty eyes… I can't take it. My god tells us that stealing is wrong, but these children never knew how to do the right thing in the first place. He can't judge them too harshly, can he?" Darius shook his head. "He can't judge me too harshly, right?"

"You stole too?" Ness asked.

"To survive," Darius said. "I reminded Zanine too much of my father, so she abandoned me. The underground criminal network was more my home than Zanine's house ever was. But none of it matters anymore. I'm leaving."

"You say that you can't control your fate," Ness said. "But you still managed to escape from a life of crime."

"I was lucky," Darius said. "Privileged. Psionics gave me the power to make my own right. Another environmental factor pushed me to success."

"Still," Ness said. "No matter what happens to you, what you're doing here is amazing."

Darius blinked, and Ness could see the gears in his head whirring. He clearly wasn't used to getting compliments of that nature. After a pause, Darius smiled.

"Thanks," he said. "I guess we can all do a little bit, huh? This is my one trickle of goodness compared to your ocean. Good luck saving Ana, all right? And while it's been a pleasure talking with you," Darius looked down at the children huddled around him. "I have some work to do."

Ness nodded. He walked out of Darius' house, almost bumping into a young girl. At the last second before closing the door behind him, Ness turned around.

"Darius," he said. "If you ever see a boy about my age named Lucas working for Giygas, try to get through to him, will you? I still believe that there's a piece of goodness left inside of him too."

"I promise," Darius said.

* * *

Boring.

Ana didn't know how long she had been clamped to a dungeon wall, but is must have been at least a couple weeks, judging by her sleep cycle. She kept her brain active through little tricks that she learned from Minerva: mental math, humming to herself, and trying to recall random pieces of information.

The door to the prison opened. The light from the outside nearly blinded Ana; she squinted and made out Claus entering.

"How are you holding up?" Claus asked. "It must not be comfortable with your arms clamped above your head like that. Is it starting to ache?"

"As a psion, I can control my nervous system in oddly specific ways," Ana said. "I shut off the pain signals a while ago. Although, my left arm still itches."

"Hmm?" Claus asked.

"My self-harm," Ana said. "I feel compelled to stab myself. It's like I'm suffocating and the only way to get air is to insert a blade into my flesh." She laughed. "Except the sensation is entirely in my left arm. So it is more like a terrible itch, I guess. Would you mind stabbing me there a couple of times?"

"I can't heal you back up," Claus said. "So it would be dangerous."

"Well, I like to live on the edge."

"Really," Claus said. "I thought you liked to plan everything out and hated surprises."

"You're right," Ana said with a sigh. "It's this psyching prison. I've been here so long that I can't care about anything at all."

"What about Ness?"

"I try not to think about him. I'm afraid that one day, I'll picture him in my mind and feel nothing. Not that I can ever love him."

Claus raised an eyebrow.

"I'm homosexual," she said.

To his credit, Claus didn't even look surprised.

"Well, I don't see how that matters," Claus said. "There are different kinds of love, and not all are romantic. It always seemed like he saw you as an older sister anyway. I think we all did."

 _Which is why people are so surprised to find out who the real me is,_ Ana said. _I guess I can't blame them._

"So did you come here for a reason?" Ana said. "Not that I mind talking to you."

"I want to help you escape," Claus said. "But I don't know how. I've been searching for the keys to unlock those clamps, but no luck."

"Ah, don't worry about me," Ana said. "I'll be able to get out of here soon."

Claus raised an eyebrow.

"Just trust me on this one."

"I do." Claus cocked his head. "I'll need your help. I have a plan, and having a psion to warp me out would be much appreciated."

"You want me to come with you during your plan?" Ana asked. "That would look incredibly suspicious."

"No, you stay here. Can you just be prepared to free yourself and teleport us out quickly by tomorrow?"

"I think so," Ana said. "May I ask what this apparently dangerous plan of yours involves?"

"You may ask," Claus said. "But I won't answer. I wouldn't want you to think less of me unless I succeed. I will say this, though." Claus looked Ana and smiled farewell. "If you don't hear from me in a day, don't expect to hear from me ever again."


	12. Chapter 11: The Gathering Storm

**Hey, everyone. I'm back (finally). :) And oh boy has it been a long time. Even I forgot what was happening in this story. And I know that anyone who's stuck with me this far has to be willing to work through a lot of confusion, but I thought that I should remind everyone what's happening. :)**

 **-The italics text at the beginning of each chapter comes from Darius**

 **-Zanine leads the Scaraban resistance and just bombed an Eagleish fleet using Jeff's bottle rockets after taking over Fiven. Claus is not happy. :(**

 **-Zanine also captured and imprisoned Ana for working with the Eagleish government. Jeff made her promise not to capture Ness.**

 **-Ness is still trying to find a way to save Ana**

 **-Ninten, Poo, and Kuma are off trying to find the Sound Stone**

 **-Diana's also missing, and since she can transform into anyone without Jeff knowing, she promised that she would deliver the line " The stars shall never again align" when she sees him again**

 **-Jeff has pew pew lasers and magic armor now. :)**

* * *

 **Review Response:**

 **PKTofuMaster:** Yes, that letter was a typo. :) And because fanfiction only keeps the documents for 90 days, I can't really go in and edit it without rewriting the entire AN (which isn't saved on my word version of the chapter), so I guess it will stay that way. Thanks for letting me know, though. And yes, all of the attention is being drawn to that one letter. :) I feel like that's something a poet would do. Yeah, this struggle is especially hard on Ness, since this is really his first time being alone without Ana. But hey, that gives him a chance to learn, right?

And it was actually Ana who said "I like to live on the edge" as a joke. :) But if it were serious, it would be more fit coming from Claus. He's... pretty edgy. Definitely dramatic flare, yeah. Yeah, Ana's line about stabbing wasn't meant to totally be jarring, since she's expressed that part of herself before, but... she's definitely struggling to keep up appearances in prison, and I think she gets a kick out of how jarring she can be when she shows her "true" self. Besides, Claus can't really complain since he's such an edgelord himself. :)

* * *

 _That conversation with Ness struck a deep chord within me. I don't know why, but I couldn't hate him even if I tried my damndest. There's not much worth talking about in my life, but meeting Ness was one experience that I am glad to have._

 _I think that he took some of my anger away. Without his intervention, my story may have ended quite differently._

* * *

Jeff walked through the outside area of the military complex the morning after the Eagleish ships were bombed. He could still see the fleet go up in flames when he closed his eyes. Sweat soaked his shirt and stained his cloak, even in the tranquil morning, yet Jeff couldn't care less. He wiped away the sweat from his forehead so that it wouldn't sting his eyes.

Jeff had no goal in mind with his walk; he simply wished to think. Hundreds of thoughts tumbled around in his head, thoughts of friends, duty, and war. How could someone possibly do this for years on end without a break?

Well, at least fighting for Scaraba was probably better than fighting for Eagleland or Ceres. Supporting a battered country was the right thing to do. Jeff had to keep believing in that.

"Excuse me," a man said, walking up to Jeff. "Do you know where Zanine is?"

His skin was dark even by Scaraban standards, and he didn't wear a Scaraban military uniform. After a couple of seconds, Jeff realized that he was staring and fumbled for a response.

"Uh… She should be in that building over there." Jeff pointed to the central building of the Scaraban military complex. "You'll have to convince the guards to let you in."

"I hadn't thought of that," the man said. His face turned dark. "Still, she and I need to have a little chat."

"About what?" Jeff asked.

"I'm convinced that she tracked me, but I don't know how. I've been in Eagleish prison for decades, so that limits her options."

Jeff shied back away from the man.

"Ah, don't give me that look," the man said. "I was arrested for leaving my village. The Eagleish government just doesn't want me telling stories."

The sound of jingling metal alerted Jeff to three soldiers approaching. Upon seeing the dark-skinned man, the Scaraban soldiers stopped in their tracks. They shouted something in a language Jeff didn't understand. The man turned around to face the Scaraban soldiers, looking at them suspiciously.

"Yes, I am an Egyptian," the man said. "My name is Sabu. Yes, my presence here breaks Eagleish law, but I assume that you do not enforce your oppressors' codes. I wish to speak with your leader Zanine."

One of the soldiers laughed.

"What makes you think that we want _your_ kind here? This is a place for Scarabans."

The soldier drew a spear and charged at Sabu. Jeff shouted, fumbling to retrieve his laser gun. After frantically checking his pockets, he realized that he must have left it behind.

 _Of all the times to forget a weapon…_

Sabu gasped and turned around to run away, but he was a moment too late. Jeff forced himself to look as the soldier ran a spear through Sabu's back. Jeff stood still in shock, blinking multiple times to make sure that this was reality. Sabu stiffened and slumped to the ground.

"Dirty Egyptian," the soldier said. "They should stay in their villages."

"What the _psych?_ " Jeff said. "You can't just go up and kill a random person whenever you please."

"Indeed, that was rather rash," another soldier said, walking up to Jeff. "We should have taken him to Zanine like he requested. She might have a use for him and now we have to clean up all the blood."

"You killed another human being!" Jeff said. "What the psych is wrong with you?"

"He is an Egyptian," the first soldier said, narrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "They should live in their own villages, not with civilization such as this. And now we make the rules, so we don't have to tolerate lesser races."

"You're no better than the Eagleish stonecutting corporations," Jeff said. "You're no better than the Eagleish soldiers who whip civilians to death."

"Say," the third soldier said. "Isn't this the Eagleish boy that Zanine made the mistake of working with?"

"Yeah," the first soldier said. "Should we kill him too? I know Zanine and Bahram want to use his talents, but they're gullible. He'll turn on us soon with all of the missiles that he's building. All Eagleish are the same."

"That doesn't even make any sense," Jeff said. "I could build missiles in Eagleland just fine if I wanted to use them against you."

"Dangerous indeed," the second soldier said. "I say we kill him."

"Agreed," the third soldier said.

 _It's like talking to a wall,_ Jeff thought. _Only the wall is probably smarter than these three combined._

Adrenaline rushed through Jeff's body, heightening his senses. The two soldiers who hadn't killed Sabu drew their weapons to match the first. Jeff started to back away.

"If you try this, I _will_ kill you with my technology," Jeff said.

"See?" the first soldier said. "He shows his true colors."

The first soldier charged. Jeff reached for his gun but froze in terror upon remembering that he had misplaced it earlier. Right when the soldier's spear was about to enter Jeff's ribcage, Claus ran into Jeff's field of vision from behind and sliced off the soldier's head. Jeff gasped, returning to reality as the soldier's decapitated body crumpled to the ground. The other soldiers took a step back.

"Another Eagleish," the second soldier said. "Why does Zanine work with the enemy?"

Both soldiers lunged at Claus with their curved swords. Claus barreled into one soldier, the Scaraban's scimitar bouncing off his breastplate. Claus socked the soldier in the face and then ran his sword through the Scaraban's chest. The remaining soldier stabbed Claus in the leg, but Claus didn't even seem to notice. Jeff couldn't blame him; with a psionic aura to protect Claus, he could take several attacks and still walk out uninjured. Claus whirled around and sliced the remaining soldier's stomach open. Jeff turned away and nearly barfed.

After a moment of silence, Claus walked over to Jeff and looked at him with a concerned expression.

"Did you really have to kill them?" Jeff asked.

"Probably not," Claus said. "But they reminded me too much of the pigmasks."

"Two wrongs don't make a right."

"Says the person who bombed an entire fleet."

"That's different."

"Hmm? Why did those Scarabans attack you, then?"

"They're crazy." Jeff squeezed his eyes shut. "Sabu…"

"Who's Sabu?"

"Have you ever heard of an Egyptian before?" Jeff opened his eyes and looked back at Claus.

Claus shook his head. "Is it an Earth thing?"

"Yeah, we're in a place that used to be called Egypt, I think. But the people are almost gone, and I guess the Scarabans don't like them either." Jeff gestured towards Sabu's corpse. "But we're supposed to be the _good_ guys, Claus. We're fighting for freedom."

"You might be. I'm just here to watch."

"Okay, I guess I should stop saying 'we.' But I should be crushed by Sabu's death. I'm trying to _help_ people like him, and these crazy Scarabans…"

"I guess they don't care about freedom," Claus said with a shrug. "They care about putting themselves in power and fucking over everyone else. Massive shocker."

"That's not true. These are just a few bad apples."

Claus snorted. "Either way, making yourself sad isn't going to help anyone now. Besides, there's something I need to show you."

"I… guess you're right." Jeff released a sigh. "I just need to get my laser gun first. I'll need it if more people like them show up."

"And you talk to me about not killing?"

"I have the gun set to stun rather than kill," Jeff said. "I… felt guilty about killing those Scaraban soldiers when they first took over this place."

"Yeah, even I felt a little bad about that," Claus said. "And when _I_ feel bad, you know something fucked up is happening. We'll meet up in that building over there, all right?"

Claus pointed to a brick tower that stood near the edge of the military compound.

"What's it used for?" Jeff asked.

"That's part of what I have to show you," Claus said. "Trust me, it's better if you see it with fresh eyes."

"All right," Jeff said. "I'll be there once I pick up my laser gun. See you there."

Claus nodded and turned away. The way that his arms were positioned, Jeff suspected that he was whispering a prayer.

* * *

After retrieving his gun, Jeff found Claus on the fourth floor of the building, standing in front of a set of double doors. Jeff detected an uncharacteristic sense of fear and reluctance in Claus' face; whatever he was about to show Jeff couldn't be good news.

"You ready to go in?" Claus thought.

 _You asking that makes me ten times less ready,_ Jeff thought.

"Yeah," he said.

 _Man,_ Jeff said. _I'm starting to get second thoughts about this. If something is scary enough to have a visible impact on Claus, I might not want to know what it is._

Claus opened the door and walked inside. Jeff followed, his heart pounding in his chest. He looked around the room, spotting nothing but empty cells with iron bars and a lone window that illuminated the room. The door slammed behind Jeff and an iron bar fell down in place to block the doors from being opened. Jeff spun around, looking at Claus.

"You don't need to bar the door shut," Jeff said. "Nobody's going to attack us."

"You misunderstand," Claus said, gritting his teeth. "I'm not trying to keep anyone out. I'm trying to keep you inside."

Jeff's heart raced as he stared at Claus in wide-eyed realization. Claus hadn't been nervous because there was anything scary behind the door.

Claus had been nervous because this was a trap.

"Yes, you can lift up the bar and escape if you want," Claus said. "But good luck with that. If you do anything funny…" Claus unsheathed his longsword.

"Claus," Jeff said. "Please tell me that this is some sort of joke."

"I wish," Claus said. "I hope that you believe me when I say that I hate to do this."

"Are you going to kill me?" Jeff asked.

"Only if you make me," Claus said. "You're a dangerous person, Jeff. I won't take any risks."

"Dangerous?"

"I don't think either you or Zanine know what that stunt of yours with the bottle rockets would cause," Claus said. "Have you ever heard the saying 'power clusters in conflicts?'"

"You mean you think that I'm causing more trouble by giving the Scarabans a weapon?"

"Exactly," Claus said. "Right this moment, Ceresian psions are flooding into Scaraba. Your little revolution ends today because of all the attention you've been attracting."

 _Ugh,_ Jeff thought. _Ceres has always allied with Eagleland. I should have seen this coming._

"We need to go out there and stop it, then!" Jeff said.

"By inventing something else that will compel Geldegarde Monotoli to drop a nuclear warhead on Fiven?" Claus said. "No matter how smart you are, you can't match the deadly efficiency that Ceres brings to the fight."

"So why are you telling me this?" Jeff asked.

"You need to stop." Claus pointed his sword at Jeff. "You wield too much power. A psychic warrior like me can only fight things with a sword. A psion like Ana can change the universe with their powers, but that's expected. The way that a regular person like you can bring death to thousands by working in a lab has Ceres terrified."

"I'm still less powerful than they are."

"Yes, but you're like a black widow," Claus said. "As powerful as a human? No. Still deadly? Yes. And what do people do with spiders? Do we try to coexist with them?"

Jeff remained silent.

"Exactly," Claus said. "This is why you need to fade away. This Scaraban revolution is a failure, and it's all because you drew so much attention to it with your technology. You have to learn to back out before you lose everything with a stupid bet."

"I'm sorry," Jeff said. "I just can't let Scaraba go. This is the first time I've been able to make a difference. If I can preserve freedom, even for a few days…" Jeff narrowed his eyes. "I won't let anyone stop me."

"I'm going to stop you whether you like it or not," Claus said. "If you refuse to come with me, I'll kill you where you stand."

"You're bluffing."

"Just try me."

Claus took slow steps towards Jeff, who scuttled back against the wall.

"Please," Jeff said. "Don't do this to me."

"If you keep going, you'll only draw more and more attention," Claus said. "You'll bring more war to this universe. If I have to kill you to stop the cycle than I will." A single tear ran down Claus' left cheek; the rest of his expression didn't change. "Psych me, I will."

Jeff jerked his head over to look at the door. If he could make it around Claus, somehow…

"Even if you get past me, you still have to lift up an iron bar to unlock the door," Claus said, his eyes meeting Jeff's. "With your wiry little arms, how long do you think that will take?"

Long enough for Claus to grab him and pin him down on the floor, Jeff knew. His enchanted armor would allow him to survive as many attacks as a psion, but that didn't matter if Claus could prevent his escape altogether.

"Claus," Jeff said, mustering as much confidence as he could. "I'm not going to stop what I'm doing and go with you. You act like you _need_ to kill me, but this is a choice just like any other. If you take the choice to kill me, then fine." Jeff pulled out his laser gun. "But know that this is _your_ decision and nobody else's."

"So goddamn stubborn," Claus muttered under his breath. His eyes lit up with rage. "All right. I will kill you and I'll psyching _enjoy_ it. Unlike you, I know the real way to save lives, and it doesn't involve attracting the entire psyching military of Ceres. I won't let you go any further." Claus' gaze faltered. "I'm sorry."

Jeff nodded. He knew that Claus meant well, but that didn't mean that he was just about to roll over and die. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Jeff shot a laser bolt at Claus. The laser sizzled upon hitting Claus' chest. Jeff looked up at the window behind him. It stood at about chest height, short enough for him to open.

"All right," Claus said. "Let's finish this."

Jeff didn't have time to mess with the window now. He took a step back and leapt through the window, hearing glass shatter and feeling the sharp edges slice open his cheeks.

Jeff looked downward to see the ground rising up to meet him. Jumping from the fourth story would have killed any normal person, and that instinctual knowledge sent Jeff into a panic. He slammed into the ground with a thud, feeling suspiciously little pain. His enchanted armor would keep him alive, of course, but he should still feel the pain.

 _Endorphins,_ Jeff realized. _They're delaying the pain so that I can get the psych out of here, but they can only resist for so long._

Jeff's heart pounded in his chest. He was on a ticking timer. Once his endorphins wore off, he would feel all the pain from falling four stories and probably writhe on the floor. That would make him easy pickings for Claus. He felt his cheeks and blinked when he didn't see any blood on his hands. He guessed it made sense that the enchanted armor would prevent any bleeding from his body just like a psion's aura.

"Ah, you've got be psyching kidding me," Claus said, looking out the window. "Well, here goes nothing."

Claus jumped out of the broken window after Jeff.

Jeff yelped, firing a couple lasers at Claus before running away. He knew that Claus' psionic training mainly focused on defense; Claus could probably take dozens of Jeff's lasers even though each one could knock out a regular person. The sounds of footsteps growing closer pushed Jeff into action.

Jeff yelled for help, running towards the central building of the military complex. He felt Claus' sword bite into his back and screamed in pain. The two Scaraban psions Xerxes and Cyrus materialized in front of Jeff. Without slowing down, Jeff ran past them and let himself feel a rush of relief.

"What is the meaning of this?" Xerxes bellowed at Claus. "Why do you attack our psionic engineer?"

"I doubt that you'd listen," Claus said, holding his sword out in front of him.

"Well, you've just marked yourself to death," Xerxes said. "I hope you have a nice trip to hell."

Claus smiled and darted away in a different direction.

"The prisons," Jeff said between pants, looking back at Claus. "He's heading towards the prisons."

"What does he want there?" Cyrus asked. "You would think that he would try to flee."

 _He is,_ Jeff realized. _Just not in the way that anyone expects._

Jeff opened his mouth but closed it after a moment. Perhaps it was for the best.

"I'll cut him off," Xerxes said. "Teleport."

As Xerxes warped away, Cyrus turned to Jeff with sympathy in his eyes.

"You two were friends, yes?" the Scaraban asked. "I am sorry that he turned on you."

"We were never close," Jeff admitted. "But the betrayal still stings more than the pain."

"Pain?" Cyrus asked. "From what? You do not have any cuts or wounds."

"I have a leather vest that I enchanted to give me a psionic aura just like a psions. I took a lot of hits, but I'm no worse for wear." Jeff shrugged. "The only difference is that the psionic aura's strength can't be restored through lifeup."

"I see," Cyrus said. "Is it difficult to make?"

"Difficult enough that I couldn't mass produce them."

"Ah. That's a pity. All of this is a pity, in fact." Cyrus gestured at the area around him. "So much loss. But this is the world we live in, isn't it? Bad things can happen to good people."

Jeff didn't know how to reply.

"I am instructed to take you to our leader Bahram," Cyrus said. "He is eager to meet you after how you helped us fend of the Eagleish fleet and he won't take no for an answer." Cyrus paused. "Even in your state. I apologize."

 _But why now?_ Jeff asked. _Wouldn't he want to work with the psionic engineer before he made weapons?_

"All right," Jeff said. "I'll try to put on my best act, even though I'm still a little dazed." He adjusted his cloak. "I have a request of you, Cyrus. I recently fell from four stories up and I didn't feel the pain at all."

"Yes," Cyrus said. "Your body will negate the pain so that you can escape. The pain will come back."

"Right," Jeff said. "Do you have any psionics that will prevent the pain? I don't want to collapse on the floor in front of Bahram."

"Indeed. Sense off." Cyrus waved his hand. "Physical sensations of pain will be blocked off. You'll need to be careful, though. Without being able to sense pain, you won't notice certain things that will hurt your body. A psion once used that power on a baby for an extended period of time as an experiment and the baby scratched its own eye out."

"Eeh," Jeff said, recoiling back. "I did not need to hear that."

"Keep that picture in your mind," Cyrus said. "That way, you'll be careful not to hurt yourself. You ready to meet Bahram?"

Jeff nodded.

"Teleport."

* * *

Claus' heart burned in his chest as he ran toward the prison. He wouldn't be surprised if his heartburn actually burned the tissue around his chest. The pain of the fall overtook Claus, but he managed to shut his pain receptors off by hypnotizing himself and he kept on running.

As he reached the stairway that lead to the underground prisons, one of the Scaraban psions teleported in front of him. Xerxes, Claus thought it was, although he couldn't tell for sure.

"Today is the day that you die, Eagleish psion," Xerxes said, drawing a steel blade that danced in the sunlight.

"I come from Aphrodite," Claus said. "And I don't want to fight you."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have attacked our engineer. He creates some rather useful things for us."

"Ah, I don't suppose you actually see him as a human, then?" Claus asked. "You're more Ceresian than I am if you see everyone as a tool."

Xerxes blasted fire from his hands. Claus let the flames wash over him like a wave and smiled. Without his pain receptors, he only felt mildly uncomfortable from the heat. He lunged at Xerxes, performing quick slices in disregard of defense. The clock was ticking, and Claus had to finish this _now._

Xerxes parried with his sword in one hand while unleashing more fire with his other. Claus grunted. Most psions needed to use both hands to perform psionics. Perhaps the Scaraban method of psionics worked differently than what he learned on Aphrodite and Ceres.

Claus continued to press the offensive, landing several slashes and stabs on the Scaraban psion. Xerxes kept spitting out fire from his hand, which Claus hoped wouldn't melt his breastplate. They circled around the open area near the prison, with Claus forcing Xerxes further and further back.

"You stand between us and freedom," Xerxes said. "I _will_ have the power I need to succeed. The righteous always suffer, but this time we shall fight through the pain and triumph."

"Or I'll just kill you now."

Xerxes snarled and lunged at Claus with his sword. Claus didn't try to dodge. He felt the dull sting of the blade enter his chest.

 _Now._

Even though Xerxes' thrust had connected, it had left him open. Claus lunged forward and tackled Xerxes to the ground. Xerxes flailed and drew a dagger with his left hand, but Claus managed to pin the Scaraban psion down and saw at his wrist until Xerxes released his weapons in pain.

"This is how you kill a psion," Claus said. "How would you like to see death?"

Xerxes spat in his face.

"I fight for my country, Eaglelander," he said. "I will gladly die for my cause."

"You are a coward."

"What?"

The veins in Xerxes' eyes looked like they were about to pop.

"You're scared of listening to what you don't want to, to the extent that you would rather _die_ instead. That's not a strength, and it doesn't make you a martyr. It only shows that you're afraid." Claus leaned in. "It reminds me of the pigmasks. Shall I turn you into a piece of bacon, piggy?"

"Do it, paper-skin."

 _Paper-skin?_ Claus thought. _Because my skin is light? Is that supposed to be a racial slur?_

"Fine," Claus said. "I've never been one to back down, for better or for worse."

Xerxes closed his eyes. Claus stabbed the Scaraban psion through the chest. Xerxes didn't even bother to resist the attack with his aura; Claus checked for his pulse and found nothing.

"Probably for the worse, honestly." Claus wiped the blood off his blade on Xerxes' clothes. "I'm sorry for all of this, Jeff."

(ILH)

"Bahram is right past here," Cyrus whispered, opening the door. "I haven't seen him in months myself, so I don't think I can give you any advice. Good luck."

Jeff gulped and walked into the room. He recognized it from where Kumatora and Zanine had taken him when they were first deciding what to do with him, Ninten, and Claus.

Claus… Jeff almost barfed. He had come so close to death. Everything that he had done, all of his accomplishments… it had almost been lost today. Jeff forced himself not to tremble.

He looked towards the head of the room and saw a Scaraban man with a large build and a scar that ran all the way down his right arm. He looked at Jeff and smiled.

"You are Bahram?" Jeff asked. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"The stars shall never again align," Bahram said.

Jeff looked up at Bahram. That phrase… Bahram winked at him.

But this wasn't really Bahram at all, was it?

"Diana," Jeff said, tears coming to his eyes. "It's been so hard without you watching over me."

As those words came out of his mouth, he realized just how true they were.

"I would turn back into my real form," Diana said, "But it would be awkward if someone came in and saw their leader Bahram replaced by a Vulcanese woman in her forties, no?"

"I don't care what you look like," Jeff said. "I'm just glad that you're here."

Diana blushed and scratched the back of her head.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know how to deal with other people's emotions that well."

"It's fine." Jeff hesitated before walking up and embracing Diana in a hug. "Claus just tried to kill me."

"He did?" Diana asked. "But he's not a bad person…" her eyes narrowed. "Why don't you tell me everything that's happened to you since we parted on Ceres?"

(ILH)

Ana Aniah heard frantic footsteps approaching her prison room. She detected Claus' psionic aura coming towards her.

 _Well then,_ she thought. _Let's see if he has a surprise of some sort._

Claus swung the door open. Ana squinted in the light, making out a panicked expression on Claus' face.

"Mission failed," Claus said. "I need you to get both of us out of here before Zanine finds me. Please tell me that you weren't lying when you said that you can escape."

"I'm hurt that you doubt me," Ana said, cracking a smile. "All right. It's time to get out of this stupid place. It's unlucky for them that the clasp around my right wrist isn't properly nailed into the wall."

Ana yanked on the clasp with her right wrist and it fell out of the wall, landing on the ground with a clatter.

"What about the left clasp?" Claus said. "I assume that you need two hands to teleport."

"I've been working on it for a while when nobody was looking," Ana said. "It's time to put on the finishing touch."

Ana reached onto the left clasp with her right hand and _pulled_ back with all her might. This was what she was born to do.

"Zanine was right," Ana said out loud. "I may be stupid, but I'm psyching strong. Sometimes, brute force is all I need to get out of a sticky situation."

"Join the club," Claus said. "Do you want some help with that?"

Ana used her last ounce of strength and pulled the left clasp out of the wall with a yelp. She stumbled backwards, falling to the ground.

"Wow, those are some serious muscles you have there," Claus said. "That's quite attractive, you know."

"I have a boyfriend," Ana said, rolling her eyes. "And I'm gay."

"Really," Claus said. "Does Ness know?"

"Told him right before I got captured. I was trying to get him mad enough at me to leave."

"And it worked?"

"I don't think so, but he's safe anyway." Ana took a deep breath. "You ready to get out of this godforsaken military compound?"

"You bet," Claus said.

Ana smiled.

"Teleport."

* * *

"Wow," Diana said. "You've been busy. Claus was right about one thing, though. Your little rocket cannons gave Ceres quite a scare. I pulled some strings and got the Ceresian government to ignore Scaraba for a time, but nobody would listen to me after you unloaded your bottle rockets onto the Eagleish fleet."

"I was only trying to protect Scaraba," Jeff said.

"A scorpion only tries to protect itself. Would that knowledge erase your fear of one?"

"Not really," Jeff admitted.

"I'm impersonating Bahram to order the Scarabans to step down," Diana said. "If we fight against Ceres, it will only lead to worse consequences."

"But then Scaraba will be reduced back to an Eagleish colony!" Jeff said. "And considering how harshly the Eagleish treated Scaraba before and how they're probably going to be fearful of another uprising…"

"I know," Diana said, gritting his teeth. "But the more we fight, the worse it becomes."

"I've gone too far to turn back now," Jeff said.

"That's a logical fallacy," Diana said. "Just because you're in a bad position doesn't make this risk any less foolish."

"I know that," Jeff said, looking Diana in the eye. "But I'll never forgive myself if I don't stand with Scaraba until the end."

"What about Giygas?" Diana said. "We all need to band together and stand against him."

"If we suppress entire populations to get what we want, that's not really a victory," Jeff said. "We need to be better than him, Diana. He probably wants us to control each other and compromise our own values before we even fight him. Throughout history, the armies with the most personal causes tend to fight harder and overcome the odds. If we stand for what is _right,_ this will work out for us."

"Either that, or we only ever tell the stories where caring helps the good guys win," Diana said.

"If we band together as a universe but none of us can stand each other, do you think that we'll be able to beat Giygas' army of coordinated Starmen?" Jeff asked.

"I suppose not."

"Exactly. We need to make sure that everyone has something to protect. We need to make sure that everyone sees Giygas as the enemy instead of other humans. To do that, we need to keep all countries free."

"And you want my help in this?" Diana asked. "Ceresian psions are already flooding into Scaraba. If we want to mount a resistance, we have to do it now."

"You're probably the most powerful psion in the entire universe," Jeff said. "Your help would be invaluable."

Diana's eyes narrowed.

"I understand what you're saying," Diana said. "Empires collapse when they become too large. Trying to gather all humans together for one cause is nearly impossible. But making sure that everyone has the choice to gather with their loved ones and fight against an alien menace and has the freedom that they wish to protect… that may work. I might as well try things your way. It's not like I've made good decisions in my life, and I like your logic."

"Really?" Jeff said. "I convinced you?"

Diana sighed, turning away to face the wall.

"If there is actually a god who watches and judges us," Diana said, "I hope that He forgives us for what we are about to do today."


	13. Chapter 12: Fire Spring

**Double post? :) Double post.**

 **Whew, we're really picking up the pace here. I remember that I really wanted to get this fic finished in not too many words... and guess how successful that was. Here's a hint: not very. D: But we're back with Ninten this chapter, and there are some more reminders I should probably point out.**

 **-Ninten, Poo, and Kuma are in the Lost Underworld, which is between the physical and spirit worlds. Thoughts, as well as the laws of the universe, can physically shape the world.**

 **-They're looking for the Sound Stone, which when fused with the three knives of power should create the Sword of Kings that will supposedly help our protags beat Giygas (and all of this ambiguity is why nobody else is happening)**

 **-Ninten's great-grandmother Maria was the last empress, and it turns out her body had been frozen in cryosleep. She's missing a spirit, but she's alive and kicking while being controlled by Starman Jenny's spirit**

 **-Also, Mary's almost reached savant status. She's basically a psionic savant, but without her spirit she can't tap into her normal world-crushing amounts of power. She's still scary, though, and the protags are in no condition to fight her.**

 **-Ninten's father is Teddy, and he doesn't really get along with either of his parents. He's also related to the now dead leaders of the empirist movement, as well as Dr. Andonuts (also dead).**

 **-Ninten was dating Paula, but she was killed in Dalaam and Ninten's still struggling to deal with the loss**

 **Have a nice day. :)**

* * *

 _Ness taught me something that I thought was missing in humanity: kindness._

 _Kindness doesn't have to come through a large action or exclamation. The way that I could look into his eyes and see how much he really wanted to help people revealed the extent of his inner compassion._

 _I've been scarred from the world around me, and those scars bring me tears and pain. But even through the suffering, I can admit that a little kindness will go a long way._

* * *

Kumatora led Poo and Ninten through the Lost Underworld. She said that she expected that her senses would lead them in the correct direction this time, and Poo and Ninten had no better way of locating the Sound Stone.

As Ninten traveled through this mythical land, he saw a number of objects that boggled his mind. Trees stood what looked like thousands of feet tall. Geysers shook the ground, spraying several hundred feet into the air. The water changed colors from clear to blue to neon green and blood red. He tried not to think too hard about why that was the case.

Dinosaurs stomped through the grass and trees, causing Kumatora to take alternate paths. They learned early on that most dinosaurs would attack humans upon sight. Kumatora complained that the herbivores especially shouldn't behave so aggressively, as such aggression provided them with no evolutionary gain.

Ninten also wanted to point out how annoyed he was by the presence of grass, which had evolved long after the dinosaurs went extinct, but the dark look on Kumatora's face convinced him to remain quiet.

Not all of the changes were bad. Over the course of the day, the sky changed colors from the light blue that Ninten was used to into a soft orange and then a pale green. By the time that they stopped to camp out for the night, the sky was golden and the stars sparkled with a silver hue. Ninten spent several minutes looking at the sky and all of its beauty.

"Nice, isn't it?" Kumatora asked, scooting up next to Ninten. "Poo already fall asleep. I think he wore himself out more than he lets on."

"He did a lot of scouting today," Ninten said. "And unlike you, he's only human."

Kumatora chuckled, shaking her hand before throwing it back to look at the sky.

"Do you have the knives on you?" she asked.

"You mean the really powerful ones that we need along with the Sound Stone to craft the sword of Kings, or just some kitchen knives I happened to pick up?"

Kumatora shot Ninten a flat look.

"Just making sure." Ninten pulled the knives out of his pocket. Each one had a gem in its hilt that sparkled under the golden sky. "Wow. They're usually not this pretty."

"The laws of the physical universe don't always work here," Kumatora said, sharing a secretive smile with Ninten. "Sometimes, it works in our favor. Tell me more about these knives. Is it true that they contain people's spirits?"

"Yeah. Originally, the gems in their hilts were pale. But once the victims got stabbed…" Ninten grimaced. "It stole their cognitive spirits away. That's what feeds the knives' energy. These weapons are complex machines, but they still need a power source."

"Do they have any uses other than making the Sword of Kings?" Kumatora asked.

"Not that I know of. Dr. Andonuts warned me that they could easily be used by someone smarter than me to unleash vast amounts of power."

"In those exact words?"

Ninten shrugged. "He doesn't have to remind me of my stupidity for me to recognize it,"

"You judge yourself too harshly."

"It comes from always being told that I don't judge myself harshly enough."

Kumatora and Ninten sat in silence for several moments, staring at the golden sky. The silver stars started spinning around and growing larger.

"Could you tell me whose spirits these knives contain?" Kumatora asked. "I've been dying to know."

"If you insist. The knife with the pink jewel in its hilt is called Amourus, the knife of love. It contains the spirit of a woman named Hinawa. She was Claus' and Lucas' mother."

"I think I do remember seeing that knife before," Kumatora said, "But Claus never told me that it was his mother trapped inside. He was kind of an asshole back then, so it doesn't surprise me that he would keep secrets like that. Do you know how she got stabbed?"

"No," Ninten said. "But I think that Lucas blames Claus for some reason."

Kumatora's eyes flashed with sorrow. Ninten reminded himself that she knew Lucas before he became a psionic savant. Ninten had only caught passing glimpses of the boy who had turned into a killing machine, so he had no idea of what Lucas could have been like. It shouldn't have surprised him that he was human enough to provoke Kumatora's sympathy.

"Moving on," Ninten said, trying to change the subject. "The one with the yellow jewel is Phonus, knife of music. It contains the spirit of a… _thing_ named Fassad."

Kumatora's face darkened.

"Oh, I've heard of Fassad," she said. "The pigmasks claimed that he was the one pulling strings that powered their entire organization. If he's anything like they say, then maybe he's the one person who does deserve his fate."

Ninten wouldn't go that far, but he chose to remain silent. After all, _he_ hadn't watched his village get razed to the ground by a fascist army.

"The last one with the red jewel in its hilt is Dynaldas, knife of power," Ninten said. "It contains the spirit of my great-grandmother Mary."

"You don't mean…?"

"Yeah, the same woman we met back in Lumine Hall," Ninten said. "Apparently, her body got frozen and didn't age."

"Is that why she was being controlled by a starman spirit?" Kumatora asked. "Because her own spirit is missing? And…" Kumatora's eyes widened. "That's probably why she wanted Dynaldas, isn't it? She just wanted to make herself whole again."

"Well, the starman was controlling her actions, but I guess her body could long for its original spirit back," Ninten said.

"That's so sad," Kumatora said. "And it makes us seem like the bad guys."

 _It does, doesn't it?_ Ninten thought. _We're keeping someone's spirit away from them just because we wish to use it for practical reasons. The devil has nothing on us._

Another pause. The silver stars seemed to grow closer for a moment before returning to their original size.

"Trust is important for any team effort," Kumatora said, breaking the silence.

"We already established that I trust you, remember?" Ninten said.

"I didn't mean that. Do you trust Poo?"

"You sound like you might not."

Kumatora sighed, laying on the ground and craning her head back to look at the golden sky.

"He's someone that will leave you to die if he thinks it will save more lives," she said. "It's hard for me to trust someone like that. I'll never know when he might find it advantageous to turn on me."

"I think his philosophy is a good one," Ninten said. "I hope that you would leave me behind if it didn't make sense to rescue me."

"You can't honestly believe that."

"Sometimes I don't. I try to ignore that part of myself."

"The part of you that's looking out for your own psyching good?"

"Exactly. I'm just a single person, Kumatora. My hopes and dreams mean next to nothing on a universal scale." Ninten turned away. "Not like I have many hopes or dreams left inside of me."

"I'm sorry," Kumatora said.

"Don't be. It's just something that happens." Ninten shrugged. "I'm not trying to be passive-aggressive; it's just that my problems really don't mean much on a larger scale."

"In that case, you need to work on your communication," Kumatora said. "Because that sounded _super_ passive-aggressive."

Ninten shrugged.

"What else is new?" he said, cracking a smile.

"You're frustrating to deal with. Has anyone ever told you that before?"

"Every day of my life."

"Your life sounds sad."

"I wasn't completely serious."

"But there's a little bit of truth to that, isn't there?" Kumatora asked. "You always look so lonely. There are people who will accept you as someone who needs help, but you push them away and try to take the whole world on by yourself."

"That sounds a lot like you as well," Ninten pointed out.

"Exactly!" Kumatora said. "I know exactly how you feel because we're so similar."

"I'm not sure I'd call us similar."

"We are in many ways," Kumatora said. "But we are different in a few key areas. Where you're resigned, I'm angry."

"You're burning out," Ninten said. "I'm burnt out. Give it a couple years and you'll be just like me."

"Not after seeing you," Kumatora said. "Tell me, why did you start courting Paula in the first place?"

"Because Ana told me that it would make her feel better."

"Exactly. There was no passion in your romance. Well, there was, but certainly not from your end. She adored you, but did you ever really love her back?"

"Does it matter?" Ninten asked. "She's dead and buried while I'm here in this area between dimensions. My past doesn't seem pertinent right now."

"I think it does matter," Kumatora said. "You're someone who goes with the flow even when it would do you good to fight back. When Ana wanted you to court Paula, you complied because you thought that her suggestions were better than anything you could come up with."

"Her suggestions _are_ better than anything my brain can create," Ninten said. "You don't know me if you think that I can do anything positive in a social environment without coaching."

"Regardless, it's a little concerning how you always put other people first. You value their ideas more than your own. You disregard your own life to help others in stupid, heroic acts."

"You paint me in quite an altruistic light."

"Indeed," Kumatora said. "But I think you know how altruism is just a social construct."

Ninten shifted his gaze over to Kumatora, looking for a smile or a wink to indicate a joke. He saw neither.

"Careful who you say that to," Ninten replied.

"It's true, though. We're just biological machines acting in the way that evolution dictates. We would be better off if we all were selfless, but _I_ would be better off if I'm selfish. To resolve this conflict, humans evolved to act selfishly by instinct but pressure others to act selflessly to get the benefits of both. Or at least, that's what _you_ believe, Mr. Skeptical."

"And you don't?" Ninten asked.

"I just don't care," Kumatora said. "The truth only matters when it can help someone. Does it really matter what makes _sense_ when so many people are out there hurting?"

"Nothing means much to me," Ninten said.

"Well, there's your problem."

"It doesn't matter. I only have a few years left to live, anyway."

Kumatora raised an eyebrow.

"I'm set to develop schizophrenia," Ninten explained. "Which usually appears between ages 16 and 30. That means I could only have a couple of months left."

"Oh," Kumatora said, her voice deflating. "I didn't know."

Ninten took a shaky breath. While everyone else had so much to look forward too, life only granted Ninten voices to speak in his head as he grew older. His friends would probably change the world with their psionics and start families. Ninten wouldn't trust himself around power or people that he loved once he went insane. He would probably die alone and forgotten just like Dr. Andonuts.

"It must be so hard," Kumatora said. "To carry that with you. And you don't make it sound like your childhood was a positive phase of your life."

"You're actually showing _compassion?_ " Ninten asked. "This is a first."

He expected Kumatora to glare or scowl at him, but she bit her lip instead. Was that guilt that he saw in her eyes?

"It's something I wish I had shown Paula," Kumatora said. "I'm still convinced that I was right and she was wrong in all of our arguments. But why does that really matter if those arguments continue to widen the rift between us?"

"I know. Ness taught me to give people the benefit of the doubt, and it helped me befriend Claus."

"Even though your situation is hard, I still think that you can overcome it," Kumatora said. "Insanity isn't a death sentence, and it doesn't make you a threat to the people you love. You just need to find someone who you can trust and loves you back."

Ninten supposed that she had a point. After all, Dr. Andonuts survived through schizophrenia for several years by staying close with his sister Morgan.

"Wait," Ninten said. "You're not implying…?"

"That I'm the person you need and that we should court? Actually, yeah."

Ninten's heart skipped a beat.

"Just kidding!" Kumatora laughed. "I'm sorry, but the look on your face…"

Kumatora made an effort to keep a straight face but burst out laughing again.

"I'm glad this is so entertaining," Ninten said.

"Oh man, you looked _horrified_ at the prospect of courting me. Not that I can really blame you. But you just need to find _someone,_ Ninten. It doesn't have to be romantic and you don't have to get along at first. But the Divine Rulers know that you'll need someone to help you out with your schizophrenia."

"I don't think that anyone would be willing to help me out," Ninten said. "I mean, _I_ wouldn't help out someone like me."

"Well, you'll be surprised," Kumatora said. "So long as you try to resist your insanity, you'll attract a lot of sympathy. If you struggle and fail, people will admire your effort."

"I'll keep that in mind." Ninten yawned. "I should probably go to sleep."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

Right before Ninten closed his eyes, all of the silver stars turned into pink hearts in the golden sky.

* * *

Ninten, Kumatora, and Poo continued to travel for several days. Eventually, Kumatora announced that they were getting close. Right before they arrived at the Sound Stone's location, however, Kumatora halted.

"The Sound Stone just moved," she said. "It was right over there, but I think someone just teleported off with it."

"Do you think it was Mary?" Poo asked.

"I don't know," Kumatora said. "All I know is that someone just decided to make life a lot more difficult for us. Nothing can ever be easy, huh?"

"Not when it comes to saving the world," Poo said. "You said that the Sound Stone was originally over there?" He pointed straight forward.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"I detect another Tenda Village. Maybe they know more about the person who made off with the Sound Stone."

"No," Kumatora said. "We are _not_ going back and messing with those creeps."

"Are you scared of them?" Poo asked.

"No!"

"It's all right to admit that you are. I had a nightmare about them just last night."

Kumatora crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. "I'm not getting near those rabid animals again."

"Well, I guess it will just be us two," Poo said to Ninten. "You ready?"

Ninten looked back and forth between Poo and Kumatora. Getting involved in this debate sounded like the worst thing that Ninten could possibly do.

"Oh, come on," Poo said. "Don't let Kumatora scare you. You know that we need all the information we can get. If things get dangerous, I'll teleport all of us out."

"Okay," Ninten said. "Let's go. Are you sure that you don't want to come, Kumatora?"

Kumatora's eyes narrowed.

"I hate you both," she said. "Fine, I'm coming. If you two die out there and I wasn't there to save you, I wouldn't ever forgive myself."

"Thank you," Poo said. "With you to protect us, I can truly banish my fears."

"Oh shut up." Kumatora rolled her eyes. "For someone whose people are quiet and respectful, you're awfully annoying."

"Looks like I fit in quite well with you both," Poo said, flashing a grin.

Ninten sighed. It looked like it was going to be a long walk.

* * *

Ninten and the others arrived at the Tenda Village after what he assumed was hours of walking. Without the real sky and sun above, Ninten only had a general sense of time to rely on.

A pair of Tendas stood at the gate. Ninten didn't know how to read their body cues for emotion, but their slouched positions made them look bored by human standards. They carried crude spears, which Ninten supposed were better than giant fangs. When the Tendas saw the group of teenagers approaching, they stood alert, gripping their spears with both hands.

"What are you doing inside the dinosaur cage?" one of the Tendas asked in Eagleish.

Ninten blinked.

"Dinosaur cage?" he asked. "Out here? Uh… That's a unique way of looking at it."

"More like psyching crazy," Kumatora muttered.

"I mean, it technically works," Ninten said. "It's like how if you draw a triangle on a spherical surface, the area outside of the triangle is also another triangle since it still has three sides."

"Thank you for that completely useless bit of knowledge," Kumatora said.

"You're welcome."

"Please excuse my friends," Poo said, walking up and bowing to the Tenda. "Did anyone else pass this way?"

"Yeah," the Tenda said. "Another human like you?"

"A woman?" Kumatora asked.

The Tenda shrugged.

"All humans look the same to me. It wanted to speak with the stone, though."

The Tenda pointed to a large rock that was carved into the rough shape of a face.

"Well, thanks a psyching lot," Kumatora muttered.

"Don't be so quick to judge," Ninten said. "The stone gives off a powerful psionic aura. It might be worth investigating."

"May we come in and speak with the stone as well?" Poo asked.

"Sure," the Tenda said. "Besides, it's not safe inside the dinosaur cage. I would feel sad if you died in there."

Kumatora opened her mouth to reply, but Poo shut her up with a look. The Tenda guards unlatched the gate and opened it. After Ninten and his friends entered the village, they closed it back up. Ninten passed by a few small huts and arrived at the carved stone that looked like a face. It stood several times taller than him.

"Hmm," the stone said, its rocky eyes and mouth opening. "More visitors."

"Oh psych," Kumatora said. "It can actually _talk?_ "

"Without vocal cords, too," Ninten said. "The physical laws of the universe are crying in a corner."

"Why do you wish to speak with me?" the stone asked. "I'm a busy stone, you know. I have an eternity of sitting around to get back to."

"And you're looking forward to that?" Poo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It was a joke," the stone said. "You are humans, yes? Have you evolved a sense of humor?"

Ninten exchanged glances with Kumatora and Poo. Neither one seemed to know what to say.

"Sure," Ninten said. "Let's go with that. Did a woman talk with you earlier?"

"Yes," the stone said. "Mary, I think it was. But she was controlled by a starman. I don't know how such an unholy creature managed to get into this prison."

"That's funny," Kumatora said. "Because your Tendas seem to think that the outside world is a dinosaur cage."

"By 'this prison,' I mean this bubble between realms," the stone said. "We were banished and forsaken."

Ninten turned to Poo.

"Is it normal for people here to know about the bubbles of space between realms?" Ninten asked.

"No, not at all," Poo said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Ah, so you come from the physical world as well," the stone said. "I assume you got less than a warm welcome from my people."

"You mean the Tendas?" Kumatora asked. "They nearly killed us!"

"Do not blame them too harshly," the stone said. "They are cursed to attack anyone who passes. We were once a successful people where art flourished and reason was valued over pride, but most of the Tendas do not even remember their past lives."

"You were a race that lived in the physical realm?" Ninten said. "Did you look like Tendas back then as well, or…?"

"No. We looked rather like you humans, except that we didn't grow old as quickly. Your species has come a long way since we walked the universe. Back when we were in power, you humans only had a few civilizations, and all were quite primitive."

"Oh my," Poo said. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Ninten?"

"Yeah," Ninten said. "Although I'm wondering if any of this is true, considering the nature of this bubble."

"Well, I don't get it," Kumatora said. "Would you mind filling me in?"

"Mr. or Ms. Stone person," Ninten said. "Your people… were they called the Osohe?"

The stone smiled.

"Indeed, we were."

"And you came from the physical realm, yes?" Poo said. "This means that the Osohe never died off. They turned into the Tendas."

 _All this time, when we thought that the Osohe were extinct…_ Ninten thought.

"Indeed," the stone said. "My name is Lyon, and I was the king of the Osohe. My people are quite alive, although blissfully unaware of their circumstances."

"You said that you're the king?" Kumatora said. "The Magypsies called me the Osohe princess. Does that mean we're related?"

"I do not believe so," Lyon said. "Osohe do not reproduce like humans. We have no way of being true fathers or mothers. This is made up for by our body's natural regeneration capabilities. We Osohe do not grow old and die."

"Oh," Kumatora said. "I don't remember anything before coming into this time, so I was hoping that you could tell me more about myself."

"I remember little as well," Lyon said. "Even now, my memories of Faldin grow hazy."

"That's sad," Poo said. "You two could be related and not even know it?"

"We Osohe don't really have family bonds like you humans do," Lyon said. "Because again, we don't reproduce, so there's no need to form attachments with people of similar genetic makeup in hopes that they'll pass down some of our genes."

"That's a rather cold way of describing it," Poo said. "We love our siblings and parents for more reasons than genetic similarity. Well, I don't, but most people do."

"I think we're straying off topic," Kumatora said. "A woman passed through here, right? Did she take anything?"

"Yes," Lyon said. "She took the Sound Stone. Are you after it?"

Kumatora nodded.

"We mean to forge the Sword of Kings," she said. "Hopefully, it will allow us to defeat Giygas."

"Careful," Lyon said. "Even with that weapon, your chances of beating Giygas are slim. It was designed to kill another."

"Who?" Poo asked.

"I do not remember. It was the same being that trapped us here, I think."

The sky turned a navy blue overhead.

"Let's focus on getting the Sound Stone first," Ninten said. "Did the person who took it teleport away?"

"Indeed," Lyon said, moving his stone lips up and down. "She teleported to the Fire Spring."

Poo's face paled.

"That's another sanctuary," The Dalaamian said. "What is she doing there?"

"Luring us in," Ninten said.

"Well, let's psyching go," Kumatora said. "We need that stone and we don't have any time to lose."

"I agree," Poo said. "If Mary ambushes us, we have two people who can teleport out." He turned to Lyon. "Mr. Talking Stone, would you mind letting me read your mind to picture where Mary teleported? We can use that image and warp to the same spot."

"Feel free."

Poo closed his eyes for a second.

"All right," he said. "That does look like a spring of fire, I suppose." He opened his eyes. "Do you want us to come back and check in with you after we're done?"

"Don't bother," the stone said. "My role in this world is finished."

"I don't know if we're actually related," Kumatora said. "But I'm sorry for you anyway. We'll try to find out who did this to you, all right? Maybe they can turn you back."

The stone face of Lyon cracked a smile.

"Thank you," he said. "You don't know how much that means to me."

"Goodbye," Kumatora said, smiling back. "Teleport."

* * *

The first thing that Ninten noticed was the heat. It washed over him like a wave, prompting him to close his eyes for protection. Upon reopening them, he saw that he was on a thin strip of rock that dropped off into nothingness a few yards to his left and right. Looking at the circular area past the skinny path, Ness saw what looked like a miniature volcano with lava rolling down its side to create a puddle below.

A pale stone floated above the volcano, giving off a strong aura. It could only be the Sound Stone.

"Careful," Poo said. "The circle of land up there is a sanctuary. Once you enter, you'll be just as vulnerable as anyone else."

"Astute observation," came Mary's voice from above.

Mary floated down in front of the three teenagers, her expression blank. She landed on the ground so lightly that it didn't make a sound.

"Master Giygas wishes for me to bring back the Sound Stone," Mary said, "But even destroying it would be a victory. My psychokinetics are the only force keeping that artifact of yours from falling into the lava. How will you use the Sound Stone if it is liquefied, hmm?"

"Why did you bring us here?" Ninten asked. "You could have just gone back to Giygas with the Sound Stone if you wanted to."

"I told myself that I wanted to take you out along with capturing the Sound Stone," Mary said, her eyes narrowing, "But now I'm not so sure. This body is messing with my decision making."

"I think she's got us beat," Poo said. "There's no way that we can obtain the Sound Stone now." He bent his legs and adopted a combat stance. "So we might as well try to take her out with it."

"Yeah!" Kumatora said. "I'll take any chance to get rid of Giygas' minions."

"I figured that it would come to this," Mary said, fire forming on the tips of her fingers. "Prepare yourself."

Poo and Kumatora stepped forward.

"No," Ninten said.

Three heads turned towards him.

"We don't have any reason to fight, now that the Sound Stone's out of the picture," Ninten said. "And I think that I know why you truly lured us here, Mary."

"Oh?" the empress asked.

"You want this." Ninten pulled Dynaldas out of a concealed pocket. "Well, maybe your starman conscience doesn't, but your human body craves its spirit."

"I suppose… that may be true," Mary said. A moment later, her body started shaking. "No. I must control this body."

Poo shouted as the Sound Stone dropped. Right before it hit the lava, Kumatora hissed and held it back up with her psychic powers. She moved and lowered the Sound Stone to solid ground with telekinesis. Mary didn't try to toss it into the volcano again.

"I'm sorry, starman," Ninten said. "But this human deserves her cognitive spirit back."

Ninten walked up to Mary. She shied back, sweating and shivering. As Ninten grew closer, she slouched and leaned in.

"Do it," she said. "I could never control this body. I've never been able to see beauty like you."

 _Great,_ Ninten thought. _Now I feel bad for a psyching starman._

Ninten gritted his teeth. He couldn't afford to turn back now. He took the final step and stabbed Empress Mary in the arm with Dynaldas, the knife that contained her spirit.

Ninten pressed the jewel on Dynaldas' hilt, and the color started to drain. Mary groaned and collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily. When she opened her eyes, Ninten could see life rather than starman-controlled emptiness in her expression. She offered a weak smile as she stood up.

"So you're Ninten," Mary said, holding his head in her hands. "My great-grandson. And my body and spirit are together once again. Who knew that I would live to see this day?"

Ninten couldn't tell if that was touching or incredibly weird.

"So you're actually the Empress?" Kumatora asked. "The one that got stabbed by her husband?"

"I am that person, yes," Mary said. She released Ninten and turned away. "But I'm afraid this reunion must be short. I am too far gone to be a part of your world."

"What do you mean?" Ninten asked.

"It doesn't matter," Mary said. She turned back to face him, her teeth gritted and her posture stiff. "Take advantage of the starman's miscalculation. Snatch the Sound Stone, take this knife back out of me, and teleport away. Forge the Sword of Kings."

"But-"

"No buts!" Mary said, cutting Ninten off. "I can only hold back for a little longer."

Poo darted into the circular mass of land that contained the Fire Spring and picked up the Sound Stone. He ran back to Ninten and Kumatora.

"Take Dynaldas," Mary rasped, sinking to her knees. "And go."

Ninten hesitated.

"Please," Mary said, tears streaming from her eyes. "You don't want to see the real me."

Ninten nodded, stepping forward and pressing the now pale jewel on Dynaldas. It started to fill up with its red color. Mary smiled and closed her eyes. She looked so peaceful for someone who was about to have their spirit torn away from their body.

"Please," Mary said. "Don't let me get my spirit back again. I don't think I'll be able to resist another time."

"Resist what?" Ninten asked.

"Resist myself." Mary coughed. "Thank you for your kindness, Ninten. It was so nice… to see your face… just this once once…"

Dynaldas finished draining Mary's spirit, looking its normal blood-red color. Mary heaved one last breath.

"Let's go before the starman takes control of her body again," Kumatora said. "Teleport."

 _Goodbye,_ Ninten thought as the world around him faded away. _That was the closest I've ever been to having a parent that loves me._

He turned away from Poo and Kumatora to hide his tears.


	14. Chapter 13: The Sword of Kings

**Triple update? :)**

 **We're here with a lot of different characters today... although still no Ness. :( He's coming, I promise. But this chapter was when I decided to add in another canon character into my story so thoroughly packed with OCs... hopefully you like her. :)**

 **Also, we have the Sword of Kings. And if you've heard of the item from EarthBound, it probably won't surprise you who shows some real talent with it... :D**

* * *

 _And so it began. The battle of Fiven was one of the most pointless conflicts in all of history. Despite far larger threats, Ceres feared Scaraba enough to send in entire legions of psions._

 _Isn't that the story of our species? We place labels on each other and tear apart those with different labels than our own._

* * *

"Master Giygas," Zanine said, looking up to the alien. "Ceres has decided to attack my homeland."

"OLD INFORMATION," Giygas said.

"Please," Zanine said. "I need your help."

"I THOUGHT YOU UNDERSTOOD. YOUR DESIRES MEAN NOTHING TO ME."

"Yes I know, but…"

Zanine shook her head. How could she explain to this emotionless alien that saving her country meant more than life itself? And even then, she guessed that Giygas would not care.

 _I'm alone,_ Zanine thought. _Again._

Zanine had joined Giygas' forces so that she didn't have to take on the universe by herself. It looked like even allies couldn't bat away the inevitable tide of loneliness.

 _I shouldn't have pushed Darius away,_ she thought. _Maybe then, he would still be with me._

Zanine hated herself for how much she needed that to happen.

"DEALING WITH CERES IS IN MY BEST INTERESTS," Giygas said. "I WILL SEND STARMEN TO ASSIST YOU."

"Oh, thank you!" Zanine said, clasping her hands together.

"I ALSO SENT SOME OTHER UNITS."

A chill ran down Zanine's spine.

"Other units?" she asked.

"A SAVANT AND A NEAR-SAVANT."

 _Lucas and Mary. If they get their hands on my city…_

"No," Zanine said. "Please, call them back."

"I DO NOT CARE IF THEY CLAIM YOUR SCARABAN LIVES. THEY ARE HERALDS OF DESTRUCTION, AND DESTRUCTION IS WHAT I NEED."

"Not just heralds," Zanine said to herself. "They'll kill everyone in the psyching universe if they're allowed to."

"ANY MORE QUESTIONS, HUMAN?"

Zanine drew a sharp breath, clenching her fists. "No, I think that's quite enough."

"THAT TONE IN YOUR VOICE. YOU ARE ANGRY. USE THAT ANGER TO FIGHT CERES FOR ME."

 _He probably knew that line of his would make me even angrier,_ Zanine thought. _And he also knows that I can't resist him._

"I shall do my best _._ "

Zanine turned around and walked away. As she was about to teleport back to Earth, a foreign woman with an empty expression walked up to her.

"It is Zanine, yes?" the woman asked. "The leader of the Scaraban resistance?"

"Who's asking?" Zanine said. She narrowed her eyes. "You're the near-savant, aren't you?"

"Yes. This body's name is Mary, so call me that if you wish. It is easier on the human mind than starman number 100101011011."

"I can tell because I've already forgotten that number sequence," Zanine said, cracking a smile. "Do you wish to speak with me?"

"Is that not what we are already doing?"

"I meant talk about something else. It seems odd that you would approach me out of the blue just to participate in small talk."

"Ah." Mary paced back and forth. "Your human subtleties are lost on me, I'm afraid. But in this human body, I feel somewhat of a connection with your species, as crudely evolved as it may be."

"Crudely evolved?" Zanine asked.

"Your human bodies contain structures that serve no purpose. You are proud and greedy. You cannot think as a group. And of course, nature has little use for you once you get past your reproductive stage in life. Your bodies start to fall apart."

"Well, I won't argue about that while my homeland suffers," Zanine said. "Get to the point."

"Giygas ordered me to kill every human in sight."

Zanine froze.

"Hmm… I can tell by your expression that you don't appreciate that plan either," Mary said.

"Listen to your human conscience," Zanine said. "Please don't kill my people. They've suffered enough."

"You wish for me to spare your people," Mary said. "But what about the Ceresians?"

"They can go to hell."

"That is what I cannot understand," Mary said. "You humans are individuals, and most of the genetic variation that would manifest itself into behavioral differences exists within rather than between different populations."

Zanine repeated those words in her head several times to glean their meaning.

"You're saying that since people in general are different, we shouldn't focus on distinguishing between different groups of people," Zanine said.

"Yes." Mary cocked her head. "Was I not clear?"

 _Clear as sand,_ Zanine thought, but she had no time to waste by delving further into this topic.

"I understand what you're trying to say," Zanine replied, "But I don't think the Ceresians do. They view Scaraba as a land of savages. I'm sure that most of them are the same as us but raised in a different way. They'll still try to kill us."

"Ah, so you wish for me to fight Ceres because it is the aggressor," Mary said. "I've never thought about that before. You humans have such odd senses of morality."

"So will you stand with Scaraba?" Zanine asked.

"I suppose that I will stand against the aggressors," Mary said. "At least, if I can keep control of this body. It's nearly a savant, like Giygas told you, so it wants to cause as much destruction as possible."

A shiver ran down Zanine's spine.

"You _can_ control the body, yes?" she asked.

"Most of the time." Mary studied Zanine's face. "Is that concerning? I meant to reassure you."

"If you occasionally lose control of yourself, that's a big issue."

"It probably won't happen."

"Probably isn't good enough."

Mary looked at Zanine as if she were crazy.

"Probably is the best that anyone ever gets. Statistically, there's always a possibility that anything will fail. Do all humans freak out when faced with the possibility of failure?"

"We do when that failure is out of our control," Zanine said.

"Ah." Mary furrowed her eyebrows. "I suppose I can see that. Evolution drove you humans to control your environment to attain greater chances of survival, and it's working out so far."

"Yes, we humans love control," Zanine said. "But I'll just have to accept that I can't control this, won't I? I'll have to risk you killing some of my people."

"Indeed. Giygas demands that I be present."

"Let us go then," Zanine said. "We've wasted too much time already."

* * *

Ninten appeared next to Poo and Kumatora on the outskirts of Fiven. Coming from the Fire Spring, he barely noticed the desert heat.

"Didn't know you would teleport us all the way back here," Ninten said. "But I guess it saves us another trip."

"Do you feel it?" Kumatora asked. "I can sense hundreds of starmen gathering in the city, along with dozens of psions. What the psych is happening?"

"You expect us to know?" Poo said.

"Ah, forget it." Kumatora glared at the city. "Teleport."

She faded away from the sandy outskirts like a mirage.

"Well, there she goes," Poo said. "At least she didn't take the Sound Stone with her."

Poo pulled the smooth, white rock out of his pocket, tossing it to himself.

"Do you have any idea how to make the Sword of Kings?" Ninten asked.

"Unfortunately, no. The Dalaamian knowledge is rather blank in that area."

"That's a pity," Ninten said. "Maybe I'll just mess around with the Sound Stone and the three knives and see if anything happens."

A group of starmen teleported in front of Ninten, and he could sense many more teleporting from behind.

"Doesn't look like we have much time," Poo said.

The Prince of Dalaam lunged forward and drove his fists into the closest starman, sending dents into its metallic frame. He finished with a roundhouse kick, sending the alien sprawling on the ground. It whirred in what Ninten assumed was the starman equivalent of pain or distress.

The rest of the starmen fired lasers at Poo and Ninten. Poo tossed the Sound Stone to Ninten, who fumbled to catch it. Ninten pulled out the three Osohe knives, his senses alerting him to the dozens of lasers that would fry him once he could no longer stall the damage.

 _Where do I even begin?_ Ninten thought. _Ah, psych it._

Ninten pressed the jewels of the three knives into the Sound Stone simultaneously.

A flash of light blinded Ninten. After it cleared, he found himself alone in a completely white room. White tables and chairs provided a place to sit on the white floor and look at the white wall that was decorated with white picture frames and flowers whose stalks were white.

"Heh, it's nice to meet someone after thousands of years stuck in that psyching knife."

Ninten whirled around to see a man who hadn't been there a second ago. He wore exotic clothing that Ninten would have once mistaken as Scaraban. He scarfed down a banana and dropped the peel. Upon hitting the floor, the peel turned white.

"And you are…?" Ninten said.

"Call me Fassad." the man paused. "Or Locria. I don't really care."

"Okay," Ninten said slowly. "And what are you doing here?"

"You're forging the Sword of Kings with my cognitive spirit," Fassad said, jabbing a finger into Ninten's chest. "I think that I have the right to put in my opinion about it."

After a pause, Fassad laughed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just so used to playing the bad guy. Everyone expected it from me, you know? Just like everyone expected you to be an asshole. We both took up our mantles."

"You were listening to all of my conversations?" Ninten asked.

"And reading your mind," Fassad said. "You have a little habit of thinking about Kumatora naked."

Ninten felt his cheeks redden.

"That's just because it was so awkward," he protested.

"I'm just poking fun," Fassad said. "I didn't actually read your mind. You know, privacy and all that."

Ninten sighed, relaxing his shoulders.

"Listen," Fassad said, his voice growing serious. "This sword that you're going to create isn't some magical key that will point you to Giygas' weak spot. This is real life, not some fairy tale."

"So how do I defeat Giygas?" Ninten asked.

"That's for you to figure out, not me," Fassad said. "I made my decision to resist a seemingly invincible enemy and this is where I ended up."

"I'm sorry," Ninten said.

"I regret many things in my life, but that was not one of them." Fassad smiled. "I think we're similar, Ninten. We're both pathetic little rats, but we do what's right when we need to."

"If you think that I do what's right when needed, you clearly don't know me."

"I can't tell if that's a grab for attention or your ignorance speaking," Fassad said.

"You're an asshole," Ninten muttered.

"Aren't we both?" Fassad winked. "Best of luck, Ninten. You're going to need it."

"Luck has never worked out for me."

"Best of skill, then?" Fassad cocked his head. "Don't give up, you hear me? If a little rat like me can keep some of his sanity after being trapped in here for thousands of years, you can keep fighting until the day you die. And that includes fighting your enemies within."

 _Great,_ Ninten thought. _He knows that I'm going to develop schizophrenia._

"I'll try," Ninten said.

"Well, that's all that you can do, isn't it?" Fassad said. "Apologize to Lucas for me, will you?"

After another flash of light, Fassad was gone. Ninten now found himself facing a woman who wore a plain dress that looked similar to what Ninten would see in rural America. She sat down on one of the white chairs and crossed her hands over her lap.

"Thank you for taking care of my son," she said. "That's all I wanted to do. I wanted to take care of him…"

"You mean Claus?" Ninten asked. "Are you his mother?"

"Yes. My name is Hinawa."

She smiled. It looked superficial, although Ninten couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"It's nice to meet you. Claus hardly told me anything about you."

"I'm not surprised," she said. "He's been through a lot. I wish that he had just come to me when I had asked… But no, he always has to do everything his way. I could have made him free."

"How long have you been stuck in the knife Amourus?" Ninten asked.

"Four years?" Hinawa cocked her head. "Time does not matter here. Our cognitive spirits exist for an eternity, unless we wish to snuff them out and create more energy for psions to draw upon." Hinawa sniffled. "I won't get to see my sons ever again."

"I'm sorry."

"Such a sweet boy," Hinawa said, a smile popping back onto her face. "You remind me of them."

 _You obviously know a different Lucas and Claus than I do,_ Ninten thought.

"How did you end up inside this knife?" Ninten asked.

"I take it back," Hinawa said, wagging her finger. "You're rather nosy."

"Did Claus stab you with it?"

"Where did you get that idea?" Hinawa sneered. "You're not a loyal friend, are you?"

"He seemed guilty about something," Ninten said. "Like you've said, he's been through a lot. If he did stab you, he wouldn't have been acting like himself."

"Hmph," Hinawa said. "I refuse to condemn my son."

"You're making it sound more and more like it was Claus."

"I'm done here," Hinawa said, rising up and glaring at Ninten. "Your words sting more than this knife ever could."

Hinawa dug her nails into her cheek and dragged them down her face, creating five streaks of blood.

"What are you doing?" Ninten asked.

"This is less painful than your words," Hinawa said. "My sons are _angels._ But…" a tear ran down each cheek. "They should have come to me when I called. Like you, they didn't trust me."

Ninten winced as salty tears passed over the cuts on Hinawa's face, but she didn't seem to feel any pain from it.

"Goodbye," Hinawa said. "Please take care of my sons for me."

Another flash of light. Another person standing in front of Ninten.

Except this time, it was someone that he recognized.

"Mary," Ninten said. "It's so hard for me to think of you as my great-grandmother."

"Then don't." Mary smiled and put a hand on Ninten's shoulder. "Or keep trying. It's your choice, dear. You've always been good at picking your battles, so I trust you to make a wise decision about how you see me."

"A compliment?" Ninten said. "Now I _know_ you can't be related to me."

Mary laughed, her voice filled with song.

"Your parents try their best," she said.

Ninten raised an eyebrow. "They really don't."

"I know," Mary said with a deflated sigh. "But didn't you defend your father whenever Ana would complain about him?"

"I guess I just like resisting what people say," Ninten realized out loud.

"Including compliments," Mary said, her eyes twinkling.

Ninten crossed his arms over his chest, but he couldn't stop from breaking a smile. Mary bursted into another melodic laugh, embracing Ninten. He would never admit to anyone else how tightly he hugged her back.

"You're such an interesting person," Mary said. "You try to act tough, yet you don't value strength. You'll go to great lengths not to make a fool of yourself, but you really don't care about approval from your peers. Your gruff exterior hides a heart of gold inside."

Ninten didn't bother to respond. After too short a time, Mary released Ninten with a smile.

"I would try to inspire you, but I don't think you need it," Mary said. "Despite your pessimism, you always give everything a hundred and ten percent of your effort. That's inspiring in itself."

"Didn't we just go over how I resist everything that's said about me?" Ninten asked. "Now I'll end up trying less to prove you wrong."

Mary laughed again. Ninten could listen to that sound all day.

"Remember to let your feelings aid your reason," Mary said. "On Ceres, your school teaches you to approach situations with a heart of ice, but that limits your potential. I think that Dalaamian culture explains emotions well. Without our ability to care, reason means nothing. Logic cannot exist without emotion to back it up and vice versa."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ninten said. "Psych, who knows? Maybe I'll even find your advice _useful_ in these last few years of my life."

"Schizophrenia isn't a death sentence," Mary said. "Remember, it stems from your mystic powers. If you can control them, you can control your insanity. Let us practice."

Ninten gritted his teeth. Even before she spoke, he could feel the shadows sneaking up on him. He knew this experience all too well. After a few more seconds, he would fall into a delirious state and wouldn't remember anything instead.

"Resist it," Mary said, holding onto Ninten's hands.

Ninten closed his eyes and waited. Right as he felt himself start to drift off, he tightened his muscles and used every ounce of willpower to hold onto the waking, physical realm like his life depended on it. He could feel himself slipping away into vast area of unconsciousness in his mind, but he continued to hold on.

"Scaraba is just a precursor to what will happen on Ceres," Ninten could hear himself say. "Giygas cannot be killed. He will roll through and leave desolation behind in his wake."

The trance faded and Ninten opened his eyes, gasping for breath.

"I did it," he said. "I grabbed a hold of myself even when the trance overtook me."

"See?" Mary asked. "Anything's possible. It's about time for you to return to the physical realm, but I thank you for stopping by. I never thought I've have the chance to see you for a second time. It makes me think that _my_ life might not be over."

Mary turned away.

"Great-grandma," Ninten said. "One last thing."

"Yes?" Mary asked, turning back around.

"During my trance where I spoke what would happen in the future, I said that Giygas couldn't be killed. Is that actually true?"

"Possibly," Mary said. "The future that you see may be one of many. Perhaps if people make certain choices then they'll find a way to beat him. Maybe not. Either way, are those words going to keep you from trying?"

"Of course not."

Mary smiled.

"There's your heart of gold singing on the inside. If we ever meet again, I hope that it is like this instead of in person. My body wants to kill everything it can get its wiry little hands on, after all."

After a final flash of light, Mary and the white room disappeared.

* * *

Ninten found himself back in the outskirts of Fiven, facing hordes of Starmen. In his right hand, he held a sword that hummed with energy and glowed a dull green. The Sound Stone lay in the sword's hilt.

"The Sword of Kings," Ninten said to himself. "It's real. Lifeup."

Ninten patched up his body and leapt forward, swinging his new weapon. The Sword of Kings sliced through the starmen with ease, and even starmen who Ninten grazed with the weapon whirred and collapsed to the ground. Ninten smiled, taking out multiple starmen with each strike. With this weapon, nothing could stop him.

The starman combined their efforts and used their telepathy powers to directly attack Ninten's brain. He felt starman forces pushing on his mind from each direction, threatening to squeeze it until he fell unconscious. Ninten had never experienced migraines before, but he figured that his must be what they felt like. He cried out and dropped his sword to grip his head in pain.

The Starmen picked up the Sword of Kings with their psychokinesis, but Poo darted forward and caught the sword out of the air. He lunged forward, taking out five starmen with a single stroke. He wove between a field of lasers and sliced through each starman nearby. A starman teleported behind him, but Poo swung the sword around his back without looking and sliced the alien in two. He smirked, running forward towards the next group of starmen.

By now, Ninten had recovered enough to help, but he forgot all about being useful as he stood and gaped at Poo's display of martial prowess. The Dalaamian Prince dodged every laser, lashing out with the Sword of Kings and using graceful strokes to slice through multiple starman with each movement of his arm. After a few more minutes, Poo stood amongst hundreds of alien corpses.

"Almost makes me feel bad for them," Poo said to himself. "But they don't fear death, do they? They are like a machine that has run out of power; caring is beyond their capability."

Slowly, Ninten walked up to Poo.

"Hey," Poo said, holding up the Sword of Kings and smiling. "Hope you didn't mind me snatching your sword."

"I don't think that anyone can complain after that performance," Ninten said.

Poo laughed.

"Mind if I hold onto it?" he asked.

"Please do," Ninten said. "I feel like we're going to need you to kick some more starman asses before the day ends."

(ILH)

"Jeff," Diana Carpainter said, still in the form of the Scaraban Resistance leader Bahram. "Are you going to fight in this battle yourself?"

"I am," Jeff said. "I'm tired of being weak."

He paced around Bahram's room in the Scaraban military headquarters. He didn't doubt his ability to fight with his laser gun, but would the Ceresians identify him as a threat and focus on killing him?

"Well, I can sense the auras of the devices you created," Diana said. "The aura that your armor's creating is running low."

"I would refuel it with psionic crystals, but I don't think that we have the time," Jeff said. "Are you ready to head out?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. Tele-"

Kumatora appeared in the room, her face red with rage.

"Okay. Can someone explain to me why…" Kumatora trailed off as she looked at Diana. "You're not Zanine."

"I am her husband, Bahram," Diana said. "I lead this resistance, in case you haven't heard."

"You're dead," Kumatora said flatly. "Zanine said that was just a trick to deflect blame and rise to power as a woman."

"Am I?" Diana asked, winking at Kumatora. "Even if I am, the Scaraban soldiers will listen to me, since they've been told all throughout this revolution that I was leading it. Whether I am real or not, I command the Scaraban military."

"Who the psych _are_ you?" Kumatora asked.

"That is my question as well." Jeff turned around to see Zanine standing with her lips drawn tightly. "How dare you take my throne after I went through all of the hard work, impostor?"

"Is that how you see the leadership of Scaraba's military?" Diana asked. "A throne? Wasn't this supposed to be about the people?"

"Stop diverting the question." Flames appeared in each of Zanine's hands. "Who are you and what do you think you're doing here?"

"Originally, I was going to command the military to stand down," Diana said. "As I'm sure you've seen, the stunts with your bottle rockets sent a whole damn legion of Ceresian psions down upon us."

Jeff looked down at the floor in shame.

"Don't feel bad, Jeff," Zanine said. "It was my mistake."

"Still, if I hadn't created those weapons…" Jeff shook his head. "No. I have to believe that they would have been created by someone else eventually. I'm just bringing us to our destination more quickly."

"Go on, Bahram," Kumatora said. "What do you plan to do now?"

"Jeff convinced me to stand up and fight with Scaraba," Diana said. "And I think he'll still want to go through with that plan after he hears that you're working for Giygas."

Zanine froze, her eyes wide and her hands held up to her chest.

"How did…?"

"I've been busy gathering information," Diana said. "So how do you feel, Jeff and Kumatora? Do you still wish to stand with this woman?"

"Why do you work for Giygas?" Jeff asked. "He's the embodiment of evil."

"Giygas by definition cannot be evil or good," Zanine said. "He is more of a machine than anything else. He does not possess real motives and deals not with souls. He is a tool, Jeff, just like your bottle rockets. And I mean to use every tool that I have access to."

"I can't say I'm happy about this," Kumatora grumbled, "But let's agree to work this out after we kick some Eagleish ass, all right?" She paused. "Don't worry, Jeff. I didn't mean yours."

"Everyone has to point out my birthplace, huh?"

Kumatora shrugged. "How much do you trust this Bahram impostor?"

"Maybe we should just tell her the truth," Jeff said to Diana. "You did save her life, after all."

"Now I'm curious," Kumatora said. "I can't think of who you could possibly be…"

"The name's Diana Carpainter," the Bahram impostor said. "Yes, I was part of my father's cult. No, I don't murder random people anymore."

"But you still steal others' power," Zanine said. "This revolution was all I ever had."

"Look," Diana said. "I get it. Someone swoops in and steals everything you've accomplished. But we're all on the same side here; can we let it wait until after this fight is over?"

Zanine's eyes hardened.

"Come on," Kumatora said. "Can you really judge Diana?"

"I don't know," Zanine whispered. "Can I?"

"Please, let it wait until after we win," Jeff said. "Can you do that for your country?"

"Both of you trust this person?" Zanine asked, her gaze pinned to Diana.

Jeff and Kumatora nodded.

"Fine," Zanine said, turning away. "Let us plan for battle. But this is _not_ over between us."

Diana nodded. "Most of the Ceresians are in the eastern part of town. I'll head over there."

"I'll cover the west," Kumatora said. "Zanine, I guess you want to command from the back line?"

On the walls of the building, Zanine projected images depicting overhead views from various parts of the city.

"Yes," Zanine said. "Since I can display a view of the entire city on the wall with clairvoyance psionics, I shall give orders from here."

"You ready to head out, Jeff?" Kumatora asked.

"I'm going with you?" Jeff said.

"I think you'll just hold Diana back. Unless you don't want to come at all, that is?"

"No, I'm in." Jeff took a deep breath. "Let's go."

"That's what I like to hear," Kumatora said, smiling as her eyes narrowed in determination. "Teleport."

* * *

"So where are we in the city?" Claus asked.

"The western part?" Ana shrugged. "I wasn't really paying much attention. I can sense a group of psions coming our way, though."

Claus rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Andonuts. It's not like I have psionic senses too."

"Just making sure."

About a dozen Ceresian psions came into Ana's view, walking down the streets in an unorganized fashion.

"Starmen close behind us," Claus said. "Wish that I had Amourus."

"Your knife?" Ana asked. "I do remember Ninten using his knife Dynaldas to kill Starmen rather easily."

"Amourus also hides my psionic aura," Claus said, "which basically means that the starmen can't see me. Neither of the other knives have that power, do they?"

"Not that I know of."

"I guess love is just better than power or music." Claus cracked a smirk. "I sound like such a mom."

His expression darkened.

"Everything all right?" Ana asked.

"Yeah, but the starmen are getting closer."

 _Uh, I'm not oblivious enough to miss that you were probably thinking about your own mother,_ Ana thought.

She decided that it was best not to push the point.

"They're probably going to teleport in," Ana said. "When they do, we charge."

The Ceresian psions continued walking cautiously through the streets. Ana could tell that they sensed the starmen as well. As they passed into a crossroad, starmen teleported in and surrounded them on all sides.

"Know it all," Claus muttered.

Ana and Claus ran towards a line of starmen. Ana blasted with psychokinetic powers while Claus used psionics to enhance his strength and resilience before diving in and hacking at the aliens with his sword. With aid from a few other psions, they took out the starmen within seconds. They moved onto the next line and repeated until all of the aliens lay dead on the ground.

Ana turned back to the Ceresian psions. To her surprise, four of the twelve lay on the ground with their eyes closed.

"Unconscious?" she asked to nobody in particular.

"Dead." A suspiciously attractive woman walked up to Ana, healing herself with Lifeup. "Idiots don't know how to fight. They think that their psionics makes them gods. You two did well, fighting in a pair to cover for each other's backs."

"Thanks," Claus said. "Do you lead this group?"

"Damn right I do," the woman said. "The name's Venus. Nice to meet kids who can use their powers better than half of the psyching Ceresian army."

The other psions grumbled but didn't directly challenge the statement.

"Venus?" Ana said. "As in… the pop singer? What kind of joke is this?"

"The best kind, honey." Venus blew a kiss towards Ana. "How do you think I look like this? I used psionics to change my body. How do you think I sing so well? I can just change my vocal cords so they sound lovely. I have half of Eagleland wrapped around my finger, darling."

"But you're here fighting in a war."

"There's a draft," Venus said. "Besides, I wouldn't want to miss the chance to help out my country. This will just make me look even hotter."

"There's a point when something becomes too hot," Claus said. "Just look at this country's climate."

Venus laughed.

"I like you kids," she said. "Since you guys are psions, do you want to tag together?"

"Might as well," Ana said. "Safety in numbers. We might branch off on our own at some point, though."

Venus nodded, smiling at Ana in a way that made her want to punch the woman's face in.

"Keeping your options open, I see," Venus said. "Just tell me if you want to run off, all right? I don't know what you kids are doing here, but I don't think that you're part of the military at your age. So I guess I can't really control you, huh? Or at least, not with the government's power. I do have… other ways of getting people to do what I want them to."

Venus winked at Claus, who looked unimpressed.

"Let's move," he said. "We're wasting time."

Venus laughed and started walking down the road.

"We're heading towards the Eagleish military compound," the singer said. "You know, the one that the Scarabans are occupying. The ginger is right; let's pick up our pace!"

"Guess we got a gig for now," Claus said, leaning over and whispering into Ana's ear. "How long until we bail?"

"I don't know," Ana said. "But if I even catch the aura of a psion who _might_ be Ness, I'm out of here."


	15. Chapter 14: The Battle of Scaraba

**Update two days in a row. That's something, right? :) If you want to see more of this story, it really helps if you leave reviews. Hearing what you guys have to say about the story really makes me motivated to post more... and it also forces me to post another chapter so that I can respond to your comments. :P**

 **And we're finally back with Ness. :) Been a while since we've seen him, hasn't it? And we also have more Ninten, and... A Diana PoV. :D Sometimes I swear that I like Diana way too much for my own good... or at least I did almost a year ago when I wrote this. Boy, how my writing has changed since then.**

 **Have a nice day. :)**

* * *

 _Despite the pointlessness of the Scaraban conflict, Ceres set upon my country like a pack of wild dogs. No, that's not right. The Ceresian psions were even less organized than wild animals._

 _It's a grim reminder that those that hold themselves in the highest esteem will often stoop the lowest to get what they want._

* * *

When Ness pictured bravery, he often thought of a fearless knight slicing through enemy lines alone and without fear. But Ness had acted that way before when he turned a horde of zombies against Mr. Carpainter's cultists. That wasn't bravery; it was rage and lack of a conscience.

So what was true bravery? Could Ness still be brave even though he was terrified out of his wits?

He ran through the streets of Scaraba, his heart pounding in his chest. All it took was one person to make a difference. Ness would be that one person, even though he could think of others who would do a far better job than he. His path to independence wasn't complete, and psych, he wasn't even close. Ness knew that he would have done much better with Ana at his side to guide him through the decision making of adults.

But Ness didn't have that luxury. He could only use the tools that were given to him. His experiences would continue to set him back. What hadn't killed Ness hadn't made him stronger; it only stiffened him and made him less flexible. Still, Ness couldn't control his past. And honestly, maybe he couldn't control his future.

But what was the harm in trying?

"Attack!" Ness shouted at the top of his lungs. "Ceres is attacking Scaraba!"

A number of people glared at him.

"Stop trying to incite panic," a man said, walking up and looming over Ness. "If Ceres were attacking us, would one of your kind warn us?"

"I've seen what they do," Ness said, gritting his teeth. "They see you as less than human because of your heritage. I joined the Vulcan campaign to help a planet in need, but all that we did was increase tension and feelings of resentment among the Vulcanese."

The man hesitated.

"I'm telling you!" Ness shouted. "Ceres is coming. They'll blast your homes if they so much as see a soldier nearby."

"So let's say you're telling the truth," the man said. "What's your plan, kid?"

"Evacuate Fiven," Ness said. "Head down the Nile River until the conflict dies down."

"And how well did you really plan that out?"

"Just thought of it seconds ago," Ness said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ness spotted some people rushing back in their homes.

"See, nobody listens to an Eagleish kid like you," the man said.

"Or maybe they're gathering their belongings," Ness said.

Ness sensed a psionic aura behind him. He whirled around as a laser beam slammed into his chest, leaving a burn hole through his shirt and sizzling as it made contact with his skin. Ness looked at the starman in front of him and resisted the urge to run away.

 _I may be afraid,_ Ness told himself, _And I may refuse to kill, but I can still fight._

Ness slammed his shoulder into the starman, which sent it reeling back. Ness used the opportunity to heal with Lifeup.

"All right," Ness said. "Let's end this. PK Rockin!"

Hexagons flowed outward from Ness' hands. Instead of sending them directly at the starman, Ness dispersed them. His psionic senses could now only detect the beat of the music, and he knew that the starman would fare no better. In fact, starmen heavily relied on their psionic senses, so Ness disrupting them with PK Rockin would render a starman useless.

As if to prove his point, the starman flailed and fell to the ground. They needed their psionic senses to simply balance. The Scaraban man walked up and drew his sword, slicing the starman until it stopped moving.

"Are those things with Ceres?" the man asked, looking at the starman's corpse.

"Not that I know of," Ness said. "But a lot's changed since I was there."

The man stood still for several moments.

"You seem honest," he said. "Everyone, follow me! We're evacuating the city before the Ceresian army arrives!"

Ness smiled.

"Thank you for believing me," he said.

"No, it should be me thanking you," the man said. His gaze narrowed, "Assuming that you're telling the truth, that is…"

"I promise that you won't regret it," Ness said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should help warn others."

"How much do you think that you can do before the Ceresian army attacks?" the man asked.

"We're about to find out," Ness said.

Ness ran to another residential street and shouted the same message. Already, his throat was starting to grow raw from his strained voice. This time, even fewer people believed him. Most looked at him and scowled while a few pretended not to notice him at all.

"Please," Ness said. "Get out before Ceres comes. I've seen what these people do."

"At least they don't betray their planet," came a voice from behind him.

Ness spun around, facing a man wearing the Ceresian psion's purple robes. He spat in Ness' direction.

"I'm not betraying anyone," Ness said. "Ceres snatched me up and made me to go its school. It was going to draft me into the military by the time I turned 20. I never made a choice to be a part of this."

"Then what were you doing on the Vulcan campaign? Surely you planned on doing something besides sniveling and crying like a little girl."

Ness choked down his anger, taking a deep breath to relax himself. He couldn't afford to let his rage control him again. This psion must have seen him fall apart on Vulcan, but many psions were there and it would have been hard to avoid noticing Ness' show of weakness. It didn't matter now.

"Yes," Ness said, staring into the psion's eyes. "Because sniveling and crying are gender-specific." He stepped forward. "I learned on Vulcan that there are greater enemies than the cultists who killed my father. I joined the Vulcan campaign to face my fears and help a planet in need, not subjugate an entire population."

"Ah, so the crybaby has a little fire in him, does he?"

"I would prefer it if you didn't make me kill you," Ness said.

He spoke those words far more confidently than he felt on the inside. If he got into a fight with this psion, he knew that he would lose. The psion took a step back, and Ness used all of his willpower to avoid showing his surprise. Couldn't this psion see that he was facing a kid with no real grasp of his psionics?

"Fine," the psion said. "You want to make it like that? If you turn your back on your duty to Ceres, I'll have no choice but to deal with you right here and now."

 _Oh, psych,_ Ness thought. _Where's Ana? I'm basically helpless on my own._

"PK Rockin," Ness said, sending a sea of hexagons that threw the psion back. He turned to the Scarabans. "Now, get the psych out of here!"

"Ah, so you care about them, do you?" the psion asked, standing back up. "How ill-fitting. They're just Scarabans, you know."

Ness glared at the psion.

"You know," the psion said. "It would be a shame if I were to…"

The psion flicked his hand and muttered something under his breath. One of the Scaraban civilians collapsed to the ground without a word.

"Stop!" Ness said. "They're not even trying to fight you!"

"Desertion is a crime punishable by death," the psion said. "But I think that this hurts you more."

"I didn't desert anything!"

"PK Fire," the psion said.

Flames sprouted from the earth, forming an inferno that charred dozens of civilians. When the smoke cleared, Ness saw a pile of burnt bodies on the ground. Ness walked up and tried to punch the psion in the face, but the Ceresian stepped out of the way nimbly.

"On Ceres, we learn to hit people where it hurts the most," the psion said. "If you rejoin us, all will be forgiven and I won't have to punish you further."

"Never," Ness hissed.

"All right," the psion said, flames appearing in his hands. "Your choice."

Right before he was about the throw the flames, a cloaked figure darted into view and tackled the psion to the ground. He slammed his palm into the psion's face over and over until the psion's aura ran out of energy. At the first sight of the psion's bloody nose, the cloaked figure drew a dagger and slit the psion's throat open. He leapt back as blood spilled out of the lethal cut.

"I changed my mind," the cloaked figure said, wiping the blood off of his blade. "There are plenty of people here who I can help. You wish to evacuate Fiven, yes? I shall assist you."

Ness' heart leapt. He recognized that voice.

"Daruis!" he said. "Is that you?"

The cloaked man threw his hood back to reveal a young face that looked both Dalaamian and Scaraban. Darius offered a grim smile.

"Indeed," Darius said. "Now let's get as many civilians out of this battle as we can."

* * *

"Hey Poo," Ninten said. "Do you remember how we first met?"

"Yes." Poo smiled. "On that starship where we were all heading to Ceres for the first semester of school. I wanted to open up to you, but I felt constrained. It's so stupid, looking back on it." Poo held the Sword of Kings in front of him. "I had all of this power, and I was too scared to use it. No, scared isn't the right word. I was beaten down too much. My father did his best to make sure I knew that he _owned_ me."

"Scary," Ninten said.

Poo shrugged.

"Could have been worse," he said. "At least I opened up. It turns out that my rebellious side was right all along. I _should_ value my wants and needs." Poo closed his eyes and smirked. "It sounds so obvious when I say it out loud, but for the longest time I only wanted to please my father."

Ninten and Poo walked into the city of Scaraba. Ninten spotted two Ceresian psions fighting against a group of Starmen.

"Do you want to take those starmen out?" Ninten asked.

"I would enjoy nothing more," Poo said, a grin spreading across his face.

Poo leapt in and sliced each of the starmen in two with quick strokes and graceful movements. Once again, he twisted out of the way of each laser the starmen fired at him. Poo walked back over to Ninten, wiping the starman blood off of his sword.

"I do not know whether or not you would do well or absolutely horribly in upper Dalaamian society," Poo said. "It amazes me how you do not desire for glory or pride, yet you can be rather stubborn about other things."

"Shouldn't we be focusing on the active conflict around us?" Ninten asked.

"I suppose." Poo sheathed the Sword of Kings. "I just realized how much I missed talking with you."

The pair of Ceresian psions who were formerly fighting the starmen walked up to Ninten and Poo. Ninten recognized them once he got a closer look.

"Frederick and Walter, right?" Ninten asked. "This is Prince Poo of Dalaam."

"Please," Poo said, rolling my eyes. "That title makes me sound insufferable, not to mention the fact that a new government took over. I don't think that I really qualify as a prince anymore. Who are these people, Ninten?"

"I'm Frederick," one of the psions said. He looked more… stable than when Ninten last saw him. "And this is my partner Walter. I'm a fugitive from the Vulcan campaign. I was an empirist, so I got stuck in a prisoner of war camp. Walter here helped me escape."

"So I guess we're both outlaws here," Walter said. "Thanks for your assistance, Prince Poo."

"Please, just call me Poo. Adding titles after my name doesn't make it sound any less crappy." Poo smirked. "Pun intended."

"We met back in Winters," Ninten explained.

"Winters?" Poo asked. "That's not a place where I would expect any of you three to end up."

"Power draws power," Frederick said, "And Dr. Andonuts was quite more powerful than most people believed. Too bad that he killed himself."

Ninten played the sequence over one more time in his head. Dr. Andonuts knocking Claus out and threatening to kill him. Dr. Andonuts turning into a different person entirely and dueling Ninten. Ninten refusing to kill Dr. Andonuts after he won the duel. Dr. Andonuts stabbing himself through the eye. After Ninten's mystical trip to the Lost Underworld, he had almost forgotten how gritty life could get.

"The point is that we're here," Walter said. "Although we still do not approve of what Geldegarde Monotoli is doing. Are you two working for him?"

"Right now?" Poo said. "We're doing our own thing."

"Well, you may want to pick a side," Walter said. "The Scarabans allied themselves with the starmen to fight off Ceres. I wanted to survey the situation here, but…"

"But there's nothing we can do about this pile of shit," Frederick said with a harsh laugh. "Just like I told you."

"With your skills, though," Walter said, looking at the Sword of Kings. "I bet you could actually make a difference."

"Both sides have tried to kill us, so we won't judge you for picking one over the other," Frederick said. "Besides, I won't even be here to see you choose. Teleport."

Frederick vanished from sight.

"I should go too," Walter said. "No matter which side I choose, I'm pretty sure that I'll end up creating more destruction."

Walter sighed and teleported away.

"They seem like depressing people," Poo said.

"Can you blame them?" Ninten asked. "They've been on the run from Monotoli for a while now. That can't be easy on the mind."

"It almost sounds like you speak from experience."

"Every mistake I made was a criminal act in my mother's eyes," Ninten said. "I spent too much time worrying that she would unearth some misstep of mine."

"Ah," Poo said. "I am sorry."

"Save it for later. We need to choose which side we want to join."

"It seems like we should go with Ceres," Poo said. "They're fighting against the starmen, right? We wish to defeat Giygas, so fighting against his minions rather than with them seems like a good start."

"Well," Ninten said. "It's not quite that simple. Scaraba does have a good reason for rebelling. Eagleland sees Scaraba as a barbaric colony, and I do not think that Ceres will take a more positive stance on the issue. If we took Ceres' side, we would also be fighting against battered people who only want to be free.

"I see," Poo said. "That is tricky indeed. What if we fight only the starmen and ignore the Scaraban soldiers altogether?"

"We would still be indirectly hurting the Scarabans, and I feel like they're in the right here."

"But we can't just side with the starmen, either."

Ninten and Poo stared at each other.

"Oh, psych," Ninten finally said. "There's no good answer, is there?"

"Welcome to life," Poo said.

Ninten pulled out his portocom and called each one of his friends. None of them picked up.

"I guess Jeff must have lost his or something?" Ninten said. "I was hoping that he can tell me what the psych's going on, since I think that he's working for Scaraba."

"We still need to decide," Poo said.

A half-dozen starmen appeared in front of Ninten. Poo looked towards him for confirmation.

"Yeah, take care of them for now."

Poo leapt in and sliced all of the starmen apart. He walked back over to Ninten, his expression curious.

"How about this?" Ninten said. "You go around and kill the starmen that you find. I'll go over to the military complex and see what the psych is going on."

"You don't think that the Scarabans will attack you on sight?"

"They probably will," Ninten said. "But I need to talk with Jeff or Kumatora. Do you know where she ran off to, by the way?"

"Other than in Fiven somewhere? No."

"Great." Ninten gritted his teeth. "Kumatora couldn't have just told us where she went _._ That would be too psyching easy."

"You still want to head over to the military complex without Kuma?"

"Why not? I'll probably just slow you down anyway."

"Promise me you'll try to stay safe," Poo said, grabbing Ninten's arm.

"Yeah, yeah. I always do."

"This is serious," Poo said. "Do you know when the last time a battle of this scale took place in the universe? With all of the raw psionics flying around, you're in a lot of danger. This is war, not some kid's game. Paula died in a battle with far less psionics than this."

"You don't have to tell me," Ninten said, turning away. "And you don't have to bring up Paula."

"I'm sorry," Poo said. "It just didn't seem like you understood. You're a wonderful person and you have a full life ahead of you. Don't waste it."

"Except that I don't have a full life ahead of me," Ninten said. "I'm set to develop schizophrenia sometime in the next 15 years."

Poo's eyes widened.

"Oh," he said. "Now I feel horrible for lecturing you."

"Don't," Ninten said. "It's not your fault. It's just… hard to care about my own safety. Add on an undeveloped brain that has impaired decision making, and you get me."

"I would really call our decision making 'impaired'," Poo said. "Maybe just unrefined. But I get it. I won't stop you from doing something stupid. But please," Poo grabbed Ninten's shoulder and smiled sadly. "Remember that we care about you."

"That's part of the reason why I don't mind dying right now," Ninten said. "If I go out in a blaze, you'll immortalize me in your minds. But if I go down like Dr. Andonuts, living in solitude and eventually killing myself, I'm sure that you and my other friends will think less of me."

Poo opened and closed his mouth, fumbling for a response. Ninten turned away to look at the looming military towers in the distance.

"Goodbye, Poo," he said. "Kick some starman ass for me, will you?"

Ninten walked away on his own.

* * *

Diana Carpainter ran through the streets of Scaraba, still wearing the skin of the Scaraban leader Bahram. All things considered, she appreciated this body. It was more muscular than her own and could endure greater exertion.

"Scarabans," Diana said, her psionics-enhanced voice booming through the streets. "It is time for us to fight for our country. I know how these Ceresian psions work. Don't stand close together like you've been taught; it will make you easy pickings for a fireball. Hide until one passes by and overwhelm them. Remember, each of these psions is the equivalent of a small army. Don't get careless and only engage unless you are fully confident in your abilities."

The message served two purposes. She did wish to announce the battle plan to her soldiers. Diana knew that Zanine would put the soldiers in the positions that she wanted, communicating with long-distance telepathy, but she suspected that Zanine wasn't adept in psionic warfare. Telling the soldiers to proceed with caution would save many lives.

She also wanted to draw the psions towards her and away from the Scaraban soldiers and civilians. With her sister Minerva and the Secretaries of Psionics Megan and Adam Aniah gone, Diana was most likely the most powerful psion left in the universe. She was confident in her abilities to at least stall out and prevent Ceres from inflicting as much harm as it wished.

A squad of about a dozen psions approached Diana, firing off laser beams and ice shards. Perhaps they suspected Diana of being a psion, but in this form none of them would guess her true power.

Diana summoned her enchanted bow from space outside the fabric of the universe and fired a storm of arrows at the psions. Most powerful psions would resort to psychokinetics of some sort, perhaps throwing boulders or creating explosions, but Diana wished to save her energy. It took her a couple shots to get used to the feel of her new body. After that, every arrow found its mark. The psions hid behind the corner of a building. Diana nocked another arrow.

"Psych it!" one of the psions said. "Let's move in! If we can take out the leader, the whole resistance will fall. Think of how much trouble that will save us."

Diana's psionic senses alerted her to another group of psions approaching. The next moment, six additional psions materialized in a circle around her, each one holding a blade.

"You may want to reconsider this teleport ambush," Diana said. "Because it is not me getting ambushed."

One of the psions snorted and lunged.

Diana caught the psion's sword on her bow. Due to its enchantments, the bow didn't break when the sword collided with it. Diana rammed into the psion with her shoulder and leapt out of the circle, firing arrows as she retreated.

The other psions fired back with psychokinetic attacks, but Diana was content to take the minimal damage and heal as she fired arrows in rapid succession. Healing psionics was her specialty, after all. She could patch herself up by using relatively little energy, so why not abuse that advantage?

After just a few seconds, the psions started to back away. Diana had learned from the few actual battles that she participated in that momentum tended to carry the fight. It didn't matter that Diana was outnumbered six to one. Because it looked like she was winning, the other psions would give her more and more room until she actually started to win.

The first group of psions ran up, led by what Diana thought was the pop singer Venus. It would make sense, she realized. Psionics could help her manipulate both her body and other people's perception of her, leading to a swift rise to fame.

"Bastard's tougher than we thought," Venus said. "Let's overwhelm him. He'll either run or get pinned to the ground."

Running did seem like a decent option right about now. Diana counted 18 psions in all that stood against her, although some did look battered and bruised. If she played the battle right, she might be able to gain the momentum advantage by taking out a couple and demoralizing the others, but even then her situation didn't look good.

But if she could stall these psions and prevent them from ravaging Scaraba…

Diana nodded to herself. She created a portal to interdimensional space and exchanged her bow for a pair of swords. She hoped that this body could swing pointy sticks around in basically the same way that her regular body could. If these psions got a chance to pin her down, it would most likely lead to her death. After all, telling them her true identity as an ex-cultist wouldn't provoke much sympathy.

Then again, did Diana really have much left to live for? All of her friends and family were dead. Even though her years barely passed 40, she felt like her bones were about to crumble. Would it be so bad to die here fighting for the freedom of an oppressed nation?

 _Yes, it would be bad,_ Diana told herself. _The universe needs you to fight Giygas. Jeff needs you to be there for him._

Diana gritted her teeth. She would be reckless, but she would try her damndest to make sure that this day wouldn't be her last.

Diana leapt into the mass of psions, blades whirling around her. Thankfully, she found that this body used swords far better than her own. She could put an extra push behind her attacks that she wasn't used to. She danced around the psions' weapons, knowing that they couldn't use psychokinetic powers without endangering their own teammates. The mass of Ceresian psions became a blanket of safety rather than a death sentence. So long as she stayed in the middle, she would only have to worry about standard weapons.

Psions around her dropped one by one. She focused on the weapons as they neared her, dodging and parrying what attacks she could while taking the rest head on. She bit through the pain and lashed out with her swords.

After only seconds of combat, she found herself face to face with someone she knew.

"Claus!" she said, too surprised to say anything else. "What are you doing here?"

"It's Diana, isn't it?" Claus said, holding his sword up in a defensive position. "Nobody else can fight like that."

Diana opened her mouth to respond and found herself tackled to the floor by another psion.

 _Stupid!_ Diana said. _I should know better than to let surprises distract me._

Diana struggled to free herself, but more psions joined in and pinned her to the ground. She managed a harsh laugh. It looked like she would have to leave Jeff alone to work out his own problems. Hopefully, he wouldn't make the same mistakes that she did.

"Get off him!" Claus shouted.

Diana felt less weight pinning her down. She saw Claus grab psions and throw them off of her like a pile of logs.

"What are you doing?" Venus shouted.

Diana wriggled herself free, darting back away from the psions and brandishing her swords. She looked at the lineup of psions facing her. Including the two that she had knocked out earlier, ten lay unconscious on the ground while eight stood facing her. Along with Claus, Diana recognized Ana Aniah carrying a massive battleaxe. The last time Diana had seen the girl, she had knocked herself out trying to heal Kumatora during a starman attack back on Ceres.

The psions dusted themselves off and looked at Diana, holding their own weapons. Nobody made a move.

"Tell me," Claus hissed, his breath hot on her neck. "Why are you siding with the psyching starmen?"

As if summoned, a horde of starmen appeared surrounding the psions. They fired off lasers that reduced the bodies of the unconscious psions to ash. The ten psions that Diana had knocked out would never get a chance to walk, laugh, or smile ever again.

 _Psyching starmen…_ Diana gritted her teeth. No matter what she did, people always seemed to suffer.

"Psych!" Claus said. "We're outnumbered. Does anyone want to teleport us out?"

Diana retrieved her bow from beyond the fabric of the universe. She nocked an arrow and sent it flying at a starman. The arrow punched right through the alien's metal skin, and the starman collapsed to the ground.

"You weren't supposed to kill those psions," Diana told the starmen. "Nobody was supposed to die."

Diana reloaded and fired in rapid succession, each new arrow finding its mark and taking out a starman. The aliens turned their lasers upon her, but she barely felt them over her rage. No matter how noble her intentions, she always ended up creating more corpses. In her attempts to atone for her mistakes, she just shoved the universe further into chaos.

Dozens of arrows later, not a single starman stood. The psions stared at Diana with wide eyes. She turned away, unable to bear their expressions. She could knock these people unconscious, but she couldn't stand the way that they _looked_ at her? Pathetic.

"I am sorry," Diana said. "I'm still confused, after all of these years. Whenever I think I see the way out of this cycle…" Diana shook her head. "Just smoke and mirrors. Dimension Door."

Diana hopped through a portal and landed outside the physical universe. She floated in a space of clear emptiness extending outwards to infinity. Behind her sat the portal to Scaraba; in front of her she could see the entire universe as an orb. She zoomed into Scaraba and saw Geldegarde Monotoli flying above the city of Fiven in a sky runner and observing the battle below. Diana created another portal and hopped through into Monotoli's aircraft, closing both portals behind her.

She tumbled on the steel floor of the sky runner. Geldegarde Monotoli turned around to look at her, raising a single eyebrow that asked who she was.

"Polymorph," Diana said, turning back into her regular self.

Her identity dawned on Mr. Monotoli, who recoiled as if struck.

"You," he said, his eyes narrowing. "I thought that you were dead."

"I survive while my sister does not," Diana said. "Humorous, isn't it?"

"Why are you here? On another killing spree, perhaps?"

"Not a spree. Just you." Monotoli's eyes widened. "I've known about your little schemes for a long time, Geldegarde. The way that you rose to power through manipulation and assassination. The way that you covet power. It's not anything new, but it leads to problems." Diana drew her bow. "You're fighting the wrong enemy, Geldegarde. We need to band together and fight Giygas, which means not invading another sovereign nation."

"You don't actually buy into the Scaraban independence, do you?" Monotoli asked. "Whatever. You've always had your own ideas about what is right, I suppose. You still haven't changed from your days as a cultist, Ms. Carpainter."

"Perhaps not," Diana said. "After all, I did try to take out your psions instead of coming to you first. I can't say why I did that. But…" Diana chuckled to herself, "You, on the other hand, have changed entirely too much."

Diana fired the arrow to start the battle.


	16. Chapter 15: Sacrifice

**Hey, everyone. :) I have a really cheery chapter for you all.**

 **That's a joke. :( War is rarely cheery, and total war in Scaraba is decidedly less cheery than most. Still, I hope that you enjoy this chapter... or at least appreciate it. :)**

* * *

 _I suppose I should have known better than to think that life would work itself out in the end. After the empire fell, we entered an age of rapid development that could spell the end of the universe as we know it._

 _Let me try to put this in perspective. The battle of Scaraba contained more psionic power flung around than all of the conflicts before it for the past 700 years. It created destruction beyond the point that anyone wanted._

 _But that didn't stop us. After Scaraba, we moved onto an even bloodier turf._

* * *

It took Diana Carpainter a few precious moments to notice all of the spears lined on the sky runner's walls. Geldegarde Monotoli controlled the spears remotely with his psychokinesis, tearing them off the walls and pointing each one of them at Diana Carpainter. The spears levitated in the air, unmoving, almost as if judging Diana with a condescending gaze.

"Are you sure that you want to face me?" Monotoli asked. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and call that arrow you shot at me a mistake, if you're willing to fess up."

Diana looked into the president's eyes. Neither one of them would ever believe that Diana had fired off that arrow by mistake.

"You only respect me because I'm a threat, Geldegarde," Diana said. "Otherwise, you'd try to squash me under your boot. Say what you will about my sister, but while she was President of Ceres she cared about everyone, strong and weak."

"Morality," Monotoli said, his eyes narrowing, "Is something for the masses. We do not have the luxury of listening to such an irrational voice, Diana."

"So this is your life?" Diana asked. "You wish to gain enough power so that nobody can oppose you? Even then, will you feel safe?"

"I don't suppose that I will," Monotoli said. "But I've gone too far to turn back."

"So have I."

Diana fired off a flurry of arrows at Monotoli. The president clenched his teeth and stabbed Diana with the dozens of spears floating above the ground. She twisted out of the way of as many spears as she could, but even then she felt dozens of sharp tips drive into the flesh of her body.

"Polymorph," Diana said.

She turned into a beast that was covered completely with armored scales. She had transparent scales over her eyes and her nose, mouth, and ears were reduced to small holes on the upper part of her body. She stood on three legs for enhanced stability and boasted four arms that she used to carry two bows.

"How do you think that you'll hurt me now, Geldegarde?" Diana asked.

"Mind thrust," Monotoli said, his eyes narrowing.

Diana barked a laugh as she felt the attack fizzle out when it encountered her psionic aura.

"You cannot hurt me directly, Geldegarde," she said. "You're not nearly powerful enough."

"I know that," Monotoli said. "Just testing the waters. I think I discovered a shark inside of them."

"Always quick with those comments," Diana said. "I would call them witty, but I think that wit itself would take offense to any relation to you. I am in control now, Geldegarde. You will order your psions to leave Scaraba."

"Are you in control?" Monotoli asked. "Because you seem rather desperate, Ms. Carpainter."

Diana fired a pair of arrows with the two bows in her four hands. Both of them slammed into Monotoli's chest and bounced off.

"Ah," Monotoli said with a smile. "Nothing says that you're in control like resorting to brute force."

"Shut up!" Diana said, firing off another round.

"My granddaughter could come up with better insults. You're confused and scared, Diana. You're a weapon with nobody to guide you."

"I suppose that was Minerva's job after I broke free from my father's grasp," Diana said, nocking another round of arrows.

"Yes, the person who murdered the population of an entire planet. But now that she's gone, you don't know what to do. You hate me, and I can quite understand why. Someone who's willing to do anything to get what he wants doesn't inspire compassion or trust."

Diana held her bows steady.

"But you get caught up in this conflict, and you're not quite sure what to do," Monotoli said. "By the Divine Rulers, you're working for the starmen! How does that feel?"

Diana tightened the grip on her bows by reflex.

"I figured out your dirty little secret, by the way," Monotoli said. "Your… connection to the starman race. How many people know?"

"Morgan Lorune did," Diana said. "Her brother Dr. Andonuts might have known as well."

"Ah, but they are both dead, along with your sister. So it is just you and me."

"Well, and Giygas."

"Naturally." Monotoli paced back and forth, showing no signs of anxiety despite the two bows nocked and aimed at him. "How does it feel, to never really be able to fit in?"

Diana growled.

"Even in this situation," Monotoli said, "You find yourself unable to fully commit to a side."

"That's not true!" Diana said. "I know that what you're doing is wrong."

"More wrong than the people working for Giygas?"

"Yes!"

"Then why aren't you fighting me right now?"

Diana's aim faltered. She relaxed her grip on the bowstrings.

"I don't know," she said. "I don't understand my own thoughts or actions anymore."

"You're alone," Monotoli said. "Forsaken."

The last word hit Diana like a slap to the face.

"That is what Giygas calls you, yes?" Monotoli said. "It is rather fitting, I think. You straddle between the divide, and it threatens to tear you apart."

"I won't listen to your words any longer!" Diana nocked and fired a pair of arrows. "I know already that you can talk circles around me, Geldegarde. You don't have to prove that."

"There is a trend in fables that you should avoid clever people, yes?" Monotoli said. "That their command of logic is… dangerous. Of course, the people who make those stories portray intelligence as negative because they are stupid and close-minded. They're scared of someone challenging their beliefs with actual logic, so they portray all tricksters as evil to excuse themselves from listening and thinking."

The implication in Monotoli's words was clear: _you are just like those people._ Diana forced herself not to push back those words. She knew the dangers of blocking other opinions out from her time as a cultist.

"Fine," Diana said. "Say what you want, but empty taunts will earn you arrows to the stomach."

Monotoli grinned.

"That's what I like to hear, Ms. Carpainter. You are stuck between two sides, yes? Neither one is righteous."

"The Scarabans…"

"The Scarabans ally with evil to get what they want," Monotoli said. "Do you approve of that?"

"No."

"Then neither side is righteous, in your mind."

"I suppose."

"In that case, don't take either side."

Diana couldn't stop herself from growling again.

"You want me to sit back and just _watch_ as Scaraba gets torn to pieces? You're even stupider than I thought, Geldegarde."

"I never mentioned inaction," Monotoli said. "Let me show you something. Clairvoyance."

A moving image of a Scaraban street appeared on the sky runner's wall. Monotoli moved around where the image was coming from and eventually arrived at a street where Ness was yelling at Scaraban civilians to evacuate the city. Diana knew that the image was real and not an illusion by the type of psionics that Monotoli used.

"You recognize that boy, yes?" Monotoli asked.

"Do you?" Diana said.

"He came up when I researched you. He looks a lot like the emperor's descendant."

"You mean Ninten?" Diana said. "They do look quite similar, although their personalities are polar opposites."

"As you can see, Ness isn't taking any sides," Monotoli said. "He's not fighting at all. He's just trying to get people out of the line of fire."

"The line of fire that _you_ created," Diana said.

"And that the starman aggravated," Monotoli said without missing a beat. "The point is that he's saving lives without taking them from either side. Wouldn't that be refreshing? You wouldn't have to worry about getting even more blood on your hands. I can tell that the guilt already weighs on you heavily enough."

"You're just trying to get me to stop fighting against you," Diana said.

"Oh, absolutely," Monotoli said. "But I'm still right."

As little as Diana wanted to admit it, Monotoli had a point. Whenever she tried to help with… well, anything, she usually made the situation far worse. This way, she couldn't screw up unless she tried to. And while Diana did hate Monotoli's guts, she didn't wish to fight with the starmen any more.

"I'll do it," Diana said. "But if I see you or your soldiers torturing or pillaging on the battlefield, I'll rip their throats out."

"Well, it's not like I can really stop you," Monotoli said. "Best of luck, Diana."

"You don't give a psych about me. In fact, you would probably prefer me dead."

"True."

Monotoli's flippant honesty annoyed Diana for reasons that she couldn't quite explain. Why did the man never get flustered by anything?

"If nothing else, Monotoli, I can at least admire the way that you make an argument," Diana said. "Dimension door."

Diana created a portal and hopped out of the physical universe.

* * *

"Darius," Ness said. "I think that we should split up."

"Hmm?" Dairus peeked into a house that had been largely destroyed. "You'll be okay on your own?"

"Of course," Ness said. "I'm basically an adult."

Darius raised an eyebrow.

"You are… thirteen? Fourteen?"

"Fifteen."

"That is still quite young."

"You don't look much older," Ness said.

"I was forced to grow up early," Darius said. "Although I suppose you probably were too. If you wish to split up, then I cannot really stop you. I assume that you wish to cover more ground?"

"Right," Ness said. "Now that everyone can see the battle, they'll believe me when I say that I want to help evacuate them. They might be trying to leave the city themselves."

"I doubt it," Darius said. "If there is psionics outside, their instinct will be to hide in their homes. We need to tell them to escape to the south before the battle actually reaches this part of Fiven."

"The battle hasn't reached here yet?" Ness asked, looking around at the blood on the streets and the rubble that used to make up buildings. "Are you sure?"

"Not in full force. It is safe to walk the streets." Darius paused. "At least, it is safer than waiting for the fight to come to them. There should be no Ceresian psions to the south."

Ness nodded. Right as he opened his mouth to respond, a portal opened up in front of him. Diana Carpainter stepped out, favoring Ness with a smile.

"Well," Darius said. "This is unexpected. Who might you be?"

"This is Diana," Ness said. "We go a ways back."

"Diana _Carpainter?_ " Darius asked. "You look like it, at least."

"Indeed," Diana said. "But I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I want to help evacuate this city along with you."

"And why should I trust you?" Darius asked.

"You shouldn't, but I'm going off to do my thing either way, so it will be helpful if you gave me some guidance. Should we evacuate to the south? It looks pretty empty there."

Darius nodded slowly.

"Ness," he said. "How much do you trust this woman?"

"I've said it before to someone else," Ness said. "I trust her with my life."

"Really." Darius furrowed his eyebrows. "I guess that's good enough for me, then. How about you help people on the eastern side, Diana? It will be dangerous, but there are probably a lot of people who need healing or protection from overzealous psions."

"Got it," Diana said. "I can even teleport people out to safety."

"It's tough, though," Darius said. "Since you won't have enough psionic energy to save them all."

"I know," Diana said, turning away. "I've been there before. I'm sure Ness remembers what happened when I tried to help him and his father escape the my father's cult."

"I don't blame you for that," Ness said. "You tried your hardest."

"Sometimes, my hardest just isn't good enough," Diana said. "But thanks."

Diana Carpainter opened a portal and stepped inside, closing it behind her.

"I've never seen anyone teleport like that before," Darius said. "Well, not anyone human. The starmen create portals like that to travel across galaxies. You ready to split up?"

"Yes," Ness said, looking ahead at a crossroad. "I guess I'll just take a left and you go right?"

"Sure," Darius said. "Try not to put yourself in danger, all right?"

"You said it yourself," Ness replied. "This isn't even the spot where the battle is."

"Regardless, try to stay safe." Darius smiled. "The universe would lose an exceptional person if you were to die here."

Ness let those words comfort him and raise his spirits as he parted ways with Dairus at the crossroad.

He couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that they would be the last that Darius would ever say to him.

* * *

Ness ran along the sandy streets of Scaraba, shouting for people to evacuate their homes and head to the south. He found that people were willing to listen to him and trusted him far more readily than he expected. Perhaps it was their desperation that made them want to latch onto any source of strength.

Strength. Ness almost laughed. He had never been strong, and he never would be strong. But then again, there were different kinds of strength. Could he be considered strong and brave even though his heart pounded with fear and he had to look behind every couple of seconds to make sure that no starmen or Ceresian psions were on his tail?

As Ness continued to yell until his throat grew raw, he supposed so. He was strong in the way that he could make an impact on the universe with his actions. That sense of believing in himself felt better than Ness could describe. If he had to sum it up in one statement, he would say that it felt like finally being an adult after all these years of being helpless. He still needed to rely on others, certainly, but he was proving to himself that he could make a difference all on his own. Was that what pushed Ana to do so many great things for him and the rest of her friends?

Ness had thought about this sort of independence before, and he always feared that it would turn him into a selfish person. After all, shouldn't he be caring about other people's well-being instead of his own? As he ran through the streets and helped people out of their homes, he realized that he shouldn't have worried. Yes, he was doing this to prove to himself that he could, making this mission about him and his insecurity. But that didn't take away from how he thought about the Scaraban citizens. Just because he cared about himself more didn't mean that he had to care about them less.

So Ness continued to run, yell, escort, and heal with psionics. It felt amazing.

And while Ness earned himself many distrustful looks, he also received a number of smiles and thanks from the people he helped. He didn't understand why so many people trusted an Eagleish boy to lead them to safety, but one of the civilians revealed the answer to him along with his thanks:

"When I saw the determination on your face, I knew that I could trust you. I knew to root for you."

So was that all it was? If Ness continued to wear a serious look and push himself to his limits, would people trust and thank him? It just seemed too good to be true. Regardless, Ness depicted this whole day as a third eye opening for him. He could just see so much _more_ in the world. Everyone had their own passions, hopes, and dreams, but Ness didn't have to let that overwhelm him. His insignificance at a global scale should push him to help as many people as he could, not to hide in a corner and wait to be saved.

Oh, Ness' heart still pounded in his chest, and not entirely from physical exertion. He still looked behind him, sighing in relief every time he spotted a lack of psions' robes on the street. He was still himself, with all of his silly fears and worries. But he still found a way to make a difference.

Ness started to tire as he ran into the next residential area. Right as he entered, his psionic senses detected something… strange.

He gasped, looking around and noticing the desolation around him. Hundreds of dead bodies lay on the ground, all of them in civilian garb. Ness knelt down next to a corpse. He noticed slash marks that left an odd residue that he could only detect with his psionic senses. He moved from body to body, finding slashes and stabs with that residue on each body.

What could it mean? Why was a psion on this side of the city? Weren't they fighting the starmen on the eastern half? And if a psion were here, why would they target harmless civilians? Even if they did, why use a sword rather than a fireball or blasts of lightning? Nothing about this slaughter made sense.

Ness remembered another slaughter that he had seen, one that made equally little sense. The slash marks… the psionic residue… the civilian targets… it all matched up.

Ness' psionic senses alerted him to a psion approaching from the left. He jerked his head sideways, spotting a boy wearing a mask who carried a sword that looked like it was made out of stained glass. The colors on the sword changed, creating beautiful displays of colored light on the ground that switched every second. The boy looked at Ness and cocked his head in what Ness imagined was curiosity.

"Lucas," Ness said. "This was your doing, wasn't it? You're not human anymore. Again. How sad is that?"

Lucas held his sword up and pointed it at Ness.

"And now you're probably going to kill me," Ness said. "Because you don't remember anything. Or maybe you do, but those memories don't mean anything."

Lucas ran forward.

"Can't you hang onto anything we did together?" Ness asked. "We came so close to saving you, Lucas. So close…"

Lucas didn't slow down.

* * *

Claus looked at the corpses of the psions on the ground. Diana hadn't meant for them to die, he knew, but the psions would blame her along with the starmen for their deaths. And he was responsible for allowing her to escape, thus implicating him as her accomplice.

He took a quick glance at the remaining psions. Not counting himself, nine still stood. Thankfully, Ana was among them. Claus spotted Venus examining the corpses of the psions in her unit, although many had been reduced to ash. The other psions seemed too stunned to go after him. Claus decided that now would be a convenient time to slip away.

He ducked into one of Scaraba's side streets. Perhaps Venus shouldn't have led them into the eastern side of the city where the battle raged. He doubted that she expected to meet someone as talented as Diana Carpainter, though. That woman was almost as dangerous as his brother Lucas.

As Claus ran away from Venus and the other psions, he realized that he had no idea where he was really going. Scaraban soldiers would see him as a Ceresian because of his pale skin, and he had no interest in fighting them. At the same time, he probably couldn't ever return to Ceres as anything but a criminal after assisting what everyone assumed was a Scaraban psion.

Claus cracked a wry smile. Once again, he was on his own in the middle of a wasteland. Scaraba seemed entirely too much like the industrial planet of Vulcan for his liking. The way that Ceres was dealing with Scaraba was even worse than the way they dealt with Vulcan, if possible.

Claus' thoughts were interrupted by a psion teleporting in front of him. Claus identified him as Cyrus, one of the psions that Zanine usually kept around her.

"Hello, traitor," Cyrus said.

In the relatively narrow alley, Claus knew that his lumbering sword would be of limited use. He should try to avoid a battle for his sake as much as Cyrus'.

"Such a welcoming term," Claus said. "Please, leave me be. I may be a foreigner, but I am not Ceresian or Eagleish. I have no quarrel with you."

"This isn't about me."

"Your friend, then? Xerxes? I'm sorry that I killed him."

"I don't really care about him." Cyrus flashed a sad smile. "He was bloodthirsty and reckless. I never once called him my friend. This is about your betrayal."

"I never made a promise to work for Zanine," Claus said.

"You are dense, yes?" Cyrus said. "I do not speak of you betraying us. You tried to kill your friend."

 _Oh,_ Claus thought. _That._

"He helped cause _this,_ " Claus said, gesturing outwards to all of Fiven. "The Ceresians think that he's dangerous, which means that he needs to stop coming out with ways to kick their asses. When they get scared, they lash out like caged animals. This is why your city is burning, Cyrus."

"That does not matter," Cyrus said. "You betrayed your friend."

"Look," Claus said. "I'm sorry. Now can you let me pass? Neither of us need to get hurt today."

"No." Cyrus drew a short blade. "You will pay for your actions."

"Why do you even care?" Claus asked. "It's not like I betrayed you."

Cyrus' eyes flashed with… weariness? Regret? Claus couldn't tell, but when he looked into Cyrus' face he saw a familiar sense of grit looking back at him.

"Because even though the righteous always suffer," Cyrus said, "I'm _tired_ of all this."

Claus took the opportunity to drop his sword. If he stood in the center of the alley, he didn't even have enough space to extend it out to the side. In this environment, his fists would prove far more wieldy. Without the advantage of the sword's reach, though, he would have to rush in quickly. Hesitation would mean taking a slash from Cyrus' curved sword.

Claus lunged forward. Cyrus took a swing at Claus' legs, likely wary of the breastplate on his chest. Claus didn't even try to block the attack; he smiled as his thigh lit up in a line of pain. Against any normal foe, a slice to the legs would halt their advance, but Claus' psionics allowed him to keep moving forward. This turned the situation into Claus' favor; Cyrus' attack that would normally leave someone incapacitated now only left his defenses open.

Claus slammed the palm of his hand into Cyrus' face, sending the psion staggering back. Claus pressed his advantage and rammed his elbow into Cyrus' chest while grabbing onto the Scaraban's arm. The attack sent Cyrus flying into the side wall. The Scaraban psion once again struggled to remain standing. Claus twisted Cyrus' arm with one hand while using the other to pry the shortsword out of the psion's fingers. Cyrus let out a cry of pain.

"You fight dirty," Cyrus said, sounding more resigned than angry. "Somehow, I am not surprised."

"And what's not fighting dirty?" Claus slammed his knee into Cyrus' groin. "Trying to blow you up with psychokinetic explosions like most psions would? That sounds entirely less honorable to me."

Cyrus' only response was an iron stare.

"It's called strategy," Claus said, grabbing Cyrus' throat and pinning him to the wall. "After Minerva Carpainter blew my planet up, I wanted to gain access to the most powerful psionics in existence so that I could fight her. Her sister Diana Carpainter told me that flashy psionics doesn't really give you power. A psion's most powerful tools are often their simplest ones, such as the ability to withstand punishment."

Cyrus grabbed Claus' hand, trying to free his throat. Claus sneered and tightened his grip.

"Some psions say that physical strength is meaningless," Claus said. "But sometimes, you have to descend to low combat to get things done. The easiest way to kill a psion isn't to blast them with absurd amounts of energy. It's to take away their ability to manifest powers."

Claus threw Cyrus on the ground and pinned the Scaraban's hands down with this knees.

"Your psionics mean nothing if I don't give you the chance to use them," Claus said. "You're still bound by your pain."

"You're a machine," Cyrus said with a sad smile. "You kill in the most efficient way possible."

 _I am NOT Lucas._ Psych, Claus almost said those words out loud.

"And the Scaraban soldiers aim to do differently?" Claus asked. "Pray tell."

Cyrus remained silent.

"I'll take that as a concession," Claus said, hacking at Cyrus' face with the Scaraban's own sword. "Now, believe it or not, I don't actually want to kill you."

"You should," Cyrus said. "If you let me go, I will hunt you down."

"Fine," Claus said. "If this what you really want."

"It is not about what I want, foreigner." Cyrus said. "It is just that I'm _sick_ of lying to people."

"Then I'll make sure that you never get another chance to tell a lie."

Claus gripped Cyrus' swortsword and slashed at the Scaraban's face. After what felt like an eternity, cuts started to show on Cyrus' face, indicating that his psionic aura was running out. After a few more slashes, Cyrus bled enough that he would die from the blood loss alone if nobody patched him up. The Scaraban groaned in pain. Claus gritted his teeth.

"I am sorry," Claus said. "I said that I didn't want to kill you, remember? Ah, I have to stop making excuses for myself. I don't want to worry about some vigilante hunting me down for the rest of my life. This is the rule, isn't it? Whoever wins gets to kill their opponent? You opted into this knowing that it could happen."

Claus sliced Cyrus' throat open.

"Psych," Claus said, standing up and looking at the sun. "Maybe I haven't changed at all. Maybe I'm still the person who would abuse Lucas just so that I could know what real power felt like."

Claus tossed Cyrus' sword aside and picked up his own blade.

"I thought, for a while, that maybe I had a _chance_ to be something more than this," he said, looking at the sunlight dancing off of his blade. "But I'm not so sure anymore."

Claus sheathed his sword and walked off, leaving Cyrus' body behind.

* * *

"Lucas," Ness said. "Stop!"

He tried to leap out of the way, but Lucas swung his blade around and sliced at Ness' side. Ness cried out in pain, his vision flashing with red. He grabbed at his side by reflex, even though he knew that his psionic aura would prevent any cuts. Ness stumbled and fell to the ground. He opened his mouth to scream a second time and sand rushed in. He gagged and spit the sand out, gasping for air.

 _This is what a real battle is like for someone with no combat experience,_ Ness thought. _Fear and helplessness._

Lucas walked circles around Ness, his eyes watching Ness like a cat. His stained glass sword disappeared into thin air. Ness stood back up, every instinct in his body screaming for him to run away. He checked his psionic aura and found it almost empty, meaning that the next attack from Lucas would probably kill him. How had Lucas weakened him so much with a single strike?

"Lucas," Ness said, feeling tears come to his eyse. "Why do you have to kill all of these people? Giygas is controlling you, isn't he?"

"He is," Lucas said. The voice was so much _harsher_ than Ness remembered. "Why does it matter?"

"Why does it _matter_?" Ness said. "Lucas! He's taken everything away from you."

Lucas shrugged.

Ness forced himself to his feet and dusted himself off. "You… don't even care, do you?"

"No," Lucas said.

"What are you living for?" Ness asked. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

Lucas frowned.

"I live," Lucas said. "There is no 'for' or 'why'."

"You are just like the starmen," Ness said. "Just another part of their hivemind."

"Yes."

"And you don't feel bad?" Ness asked. "That you killed all of these people?"

"Why would I?" Lucas frowned again.

 _Divine Rulers,_ Ness thought. _He's so far gone already. He was almost human when Giygas captured him in Dalaam less than a month ago._

Tears streamed down Ness' face in full force. Great. The moment Ness was faced with a deadly enemy, and he chose to bawl his eyes out. Maybe he hadn't grown at all.

"I kill," Lucas said, the stained glass sword appearing back in his hands. "Master Giygas tells me to."

"So you're going to kill me?" Ness asked. "Even though… we're friends?"

"Friends? Lucas cocked his head.

"Yes!" Ness said. "I _care_ about you, Lucas. And I think that you care about me too, deep down inside."

"…"

"Lucas, _please_."

"I… can't go back." Lucas shied away. "My life before Giygas was pain."

"No," Ness said. "There are people willing to _help_ you. Don't you remember what that feels like?"

"I remember," Lucas said. "I do not feel."

"I… I can't fight you." Ness dropped his arms to his side, staring Lucas in the eye. "Kill me if you want. I won't resist, if this is what you really want. Just please… let me see your real face one last time."

Lucas stood still for several moments, his mask hiding any possible spark of emotion in his eyes. His mouth tightened, and he threw his mask on the ground. His icy blue eyes stared into Ness' soul.

 _There's nothing inside of him,_ Ness realized, looking back at Lucas. _He's… gone._

That was when the tears _really_ started coming.

"Are you happy now, Ness?" Lucas asked.

Ness reached out and touched Lucas' cheek. "Your face is so cold."

"Are you _happy?_ "

"I…" A sob cut off Ness' sentence.

"You always get like this. I remember that much, at least."

"You can't keep going on like this. _Please._ "

Lucas sighed, turning away from Ness. "Your words made me remember something."

"Remember what?" Ness reached out towards Lucas.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to regret this?"

"Lucas?"

Lucas turned back to face Ness. A single tear ran down his cheek.

"I _remember,_ " Lucas said, his monotone voice finally cracking with anger, "To kill me when you had the chance.

Lucas drove his stained glass sword into Ness' chest. Ness gasped, his vision turning red. Lucas released a low growl.

"Now it's too late."

 _Oh,_ Ness thought. _The world's going black…_

"Well?" Lucas demanded, grabbing Ness by the throat. "Why aren't you fighting?"

 _Fight._

Panic. Ness needed to lash out at _something._

 _Fight._

If Lucas tightened his grip much more, he would die from a crushed windpipe before Lucas' blade killed him.

 _FIGHT!_

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _No._

 _This isn't what I believe in._

Instead of flailing and kicking, instead of trying to pry Lucas' hands away from his throat, Ness closed his eyes.

"Tell me why you aren't _psyching_ fighting back," Lucas said.

So much hatred. If Ness opened his eyes, he would see a world cracked, about to shatter into a million glass shards. He could _see_ the glass shards in his mind. He looked at his reflection in the shattering glass and saw Ninten, saw Ana, saw Claus, saw Lucas.

 _We're all broken, aren't we? Broken by what the universe did to us. Broken by ourselves, by our own minds._

 _But maybe,_

 _Just maybe,_

 _We were never meant to be whole._

Ness opened his eyes to see tears of rage streaming down Lucas' face as the savant held Ness off the ground with a single hand. He looked down and saw blood drenching his shirt. The sound of his own heartbeat grew distant.

Maybe this right here was _enough._ Despite the pain and anger—no, _because_ of the pain and anger, Ness knew that he was truly alive.

Death was just a part of life.

And all life was beautiful.

"Why?" Lucas repeated, the single rasped word barely escaping his lips.

"Because we're friends," Ness managed.

Ness reached down and put his shaky hand on Lucas' shoulder. Lucas' grip on Ness' throat relaxed, but Ness could feel Lucas' stained glass sword draining the last of his life away.

"Don't you remember?" Ness asked. "Friends… help each other. I thought I could save you. Maybe… I still can."

Ness smiled. More tears ran down Lucas' cheeks.

"I still don't understand," Lucas whispered.

"Goodbye," Ness said, managing one last smile. "Please… tell Ana that I'm sorry."

Ness closed his eyes and took one final breath before the world went black.


	17. Chapter 16: Anyone but Him

_I think Ness' death shook everyone who knew him. I've known some hard truths for my entire life, but his death made me realize that the universe is cold and heartless. If any of us deserved to live through the Scaraban conflict, it was him._

 _Even the Scarabans mourned his death. I don't think I can explain how hard it is for us to care about foreigners, yet Ness showed that a martyr with noble enough intentions can transcend cultural barriers._

 _I hope he's in a better place now._

* * *

A voice in the back of Lucas' head screamed as Ness crumpled to the ground. Lucas detected Ness' psionic spirit leaving his body, but he bent down to check for a pulse anyway.

Nothing. Obviously.

Lucas drew a shaky breath. He had just killed hundreds of people, _thousands_ of people. So why was this so difficult?

And what did Ness mean that they were "friends?"

 _I don't know if I can keep doing this,_ Lucas thought. _I need to set my body straight again._

Lucas bent down over Ness' body and grabbed a psionic crystal out of his pockets. Unlike most crystals, this one seemed… alive. Light radiated from its core, flashing in a variety of directions to create an optics show that Lucas supposed would be considered beautiful by many humans.

 _"_ _Lucas…"_

Was the crystal _speaking_ to him?

 _"_ _Lucas…"_

Lucas stuffed the crystal in one of his own pockets. He couldn't have said why decided to keep it. Surely he didn't want it, as he wasn't allowed to feel desire. On a practical level, the crystal's whisperings might distract him. So why in the universe would he ever carry such a thing around with him?

 _It's the last piece of Ness that's left to me,_ Lucas realized.

But wait. If Lucas actually cared about Ness, why had he shoved his stained glass sword into the boy's chest?

 _I don't know I don't know I DON'T KNOW!_

Lucas gritted his teeth. The voices in his head were growing louder, more urgent. Perhaps he shouldn't have killed Ness. One boy would never be able to stop Giygas' plans, and his death was proving difficult for Lucas' body to deal with. He supposed that he wasn't the perfect soldier after all.

 _You killed him. You killed your best friend._

Lucas took a deep breath. None of this mattered. His job was to follow Giygas' orders, and Giygas wished for him to kill.

Lucas left Ness' body and walked down the streets of Scaraba. He had plenty of killing left to do.

* * *

Ninten ran into what was now the Scaraban military complex. Hopefully he would find Jeff holed up here.

As soon as Ninten walked onto the grounds of the military complex, a pair of Scaraban soldiers approached him. Even coming from a different culture, there was no way that Ninten could mistake the murder in their eyes.

"Please," Ninten said. "I wish to see Jeff, your technician. He's a friend of mine."

"No _Ceresians_ are friends," one of the soldiers spat.

Ninten summoned a sword made out of transparent, green ectoplasm. He didn't want to fight these soldiers, but if they insisted…

Ninten barely reacted in time as he heard a soldier running up from behind him. He whirled around and raised his sword in an awkward attempt to parry. This new soldier slammed his sword into Ninten's blade, nearly knocking it out of Ninten's hand.

At this point, Ninten spotted the other two soldiers moving in out of the corner of his eye. If they surrounded him, he wouldn't be able to fight them all. Once they realized that he was a psion, they could tackle him and pin him down so that they could disable his powers.

Ninten was tempted to run, but he didn't trust his ability to outpace these soldiers. Besides, if he tripped and they pinned him on the ground… He would never make it out of that situation alive.

"Entangle!" Ninten shouted, raising his hands up to the sky.

The area around him filled with vines made out of transparent ectoplasm that wrapped around the soldiers' legs and held them in place. Ninten couldn't relax yet, because using that power at such a close range came with a notable problem:

He could feel the vines wrapping around _his_ legs as well.

While the soldiers tried to tear away the vines, Ninten managed to free himself by slipping in between the hardened ectoplasm. Now that the vines were no longer moving, he wouldn't get rooted again. Ninten lunged forward at the nearest soldier, who was too busy with the vines to parry in time. Ninten's blade sunk into his chest.

Ninten pulled his sword out and turned to the other two. One of them had torn away enough vines to escape.

"Entangling Ectoplasm!" Ninten shouted.

He flung a ball of goo at the soldier, which splattered all over his body. When the soldier tried to step forward, he couldn't move his leg far and reeled from surprise. That split second opening was all that Ninten needed to rush in and end the man's life with a stab.

"I… surrender," the third soldier said, dropping his weapon.

Ninten sighed in relief. Even as a psion with unfair advantages, regular soldiers posed a real threat to him. If he needed to fight hordes of Scarabans to get to Jeff, he would never make it out alive. If only he could use explosive psychokinetic attacks well like Ana, then he might stand a chance.

"The psionic engineer, Jeff," Ninten said. "Where is he?"

"Don't know," the man said. "I'm just a simple soldier."

Ninten gritted his teeth. He needed his answers soon, before the situation got much worse.

"I can give you that answer," Zanine said, teleporting in front of Ninten, right outside of the vine field.

"Ah, hello," Ninten said. "Is he with you?"

"No. He is out fighting in the streets. Let me show you where."

"Couldn't you just teleport me there?" Ninten asked.

"Would you trust me?"

"No," Ninten said. "Probably not."

Zanine smirked. "Then let me show you. Clairvoyance."

She displayed an overhead view of Scaraba on the ground with her scrying powers. She started zoomed in at Jeff's position, where he sat gripping a gun and hiding a pair of bottle rockets behind him. She zoomed out to the larger street view and showed Ninten how to get to Jeff's position from the military complex. So Ninten just needed to take a series of streets before turning into an alley after passing a red house.

"Thanks," Ninten said. "That really helps."

"I didn't do it for you," Zanine said. "You killed two of my men and were prepared to fight more. Pulling you out of my side like a thorn is the logical course of action."

 _So that's how the world works,_ Ninten thought. _You get taken seriously once you show that you're willing to kill anyone in your path._

"Still," Ninten said, "Thanks. I'm sorry about your men, but… Well, they attacked first."

"Goodbye, psion," Zanine said, turning away. "If we meet again, I doubt that I will be this friendly."

* * *

Ana Aniah looked around after healing her wounds. She spotted most of the Ceresians kneeling over charred bodies and piles of ash that used to be other psions.

"Psych it!" Venus said. "I never know what to expect from these Scarabans."

"I'm not sure if he was actually Scaraban," Ana said. "I think that was Diana Carpainter, polymorphed into a different body."

"You mean the cultist serial killer?" Venus asked.

"Well, not really a serial killer in the typical sense…"

"Well, that's just lovely," Venus said. "The Scarabans team up with Giygas and scary cults. I'm starting to actually agree with Monotoli on this one."

 _Diana didn't seem all that bad,_ Ana thought. _I just wonder why she's working with the starmen now._

"Speaking of Claus," Venus said. "Where did he go?"

Ana looked around, spotting no sign of a redheaded kid with an eyepatch and breastplate.

"Oh no," Ana said, a chill running down her spine. "Was he part of the death count?"

"Not likely," Venus said. "He was still perfectly fine when the starmen arrived, and the aliens only killed the unconscious psions."

Ana relaxed her shoulders, exhaling in relief.

"He probably ran away because he _did_ help the Scaraban psion," Venus said. "Luckily for him, I don't have the time to track him down."

"I saw him go that way," one of the psions said, pointing towards an alley.

Venus curled her upper lip to form a sneer.

"I still don't have time to deal with him," she said. "Monotoli told us to converge on the eastern side and smash the Scarabans between two forces, but we've already lost half our number from a single foe. We're pulling out."

"I'm going after Claus," Ana said.

"Of course you are," Venus said. "You're the spitting image of a hero. Plain yet attractive face, muscles, simple clothing…"

"Trust me, I'm not a hero," Ana said.

"And heroes are always humble enough to deny their heroism!" Venus said, winking at Ana.

"Please," Ana said. "If you ever see me angry, you'll know that I'm as far from that archetype as can be."

"All heroes have to have a character flaw," Venus said. "Maybe that's just yours."

"I'm leaving," Ana said. "Goodbye."

"In all seriousness," Venus said, stopping Ana in her tracks. "There are better paths to power than bludgeoning axes and pointy sticks. If you act well enough, diplomacy will get you out of most sticky situations."

"I don't have any diplomatic skills," Ana said.

"Ah, but you have two nice, round ones on your chest," Venus said with a wink. "It would be a shame not to use all of the tools in your arsenal, yes?"

Ana felt her cheeks redden. "Goodbye."

Venus laughed; Ana tried not to let it get under her skin. Only after Venus was out of her sight did Ana realize that she had been holding her breath. How did that woman manage to annoy her so effortlessly? It didn't even seem like she was really _trying,_ which just made Ana more annoyed.

She continued walking through the narrow alley, looking with her psionic senses in an attempt to pick up Claus. After what felt like hours, Ana came upon a corpse of a Scaraban man. He bore wounds all over his face, but his slit throat was clearly what killed him. Ana observed the cuts on his face more closely.

 _So many…_ she thought. _And all new. There's no way that he got into this many close scrapes where a sword grazed by his face. This man was likely a psion, and he started to get small cuts when his aura ran low._

If this man was a psion, the person who killed him likely also possessed psionic capabilities. Was this Claus' work?

"Marveling over your kill, lioness?" Ana heard.

She jerked her head upwards, spotting Kumatora walking towards her with a sneer on her face.

"He was a kind man, Ana. But of course, you could never see that in a Scaraban."

"And of course, you must always jump to conclusions," Ana said. "Look at all of the blood. Someone clearly killed him a while ago. If it were me, why would I stick around? Maybe you have the time to waste, but I'm a busy woman."

"Well, if you didn't kill him, who did?"

"There are dozens of Ceresian psions in this psyching city," Ana said. "Take your pick."

"Are you working for them?"

"Considering that Zanine threw me in a pitch-black cell for weeks, I'd say I have reason to."

"She must have locked you up for a good reason."

"Compassion doesn't even exist inside of that clunky head of yours, does it?" Ana asked. "I don't think you would care if I actually rotted away in one of Zanine's cells."

Kumatora scoffed.

"I'm defending Scaraba because it's the right thing to do," she said.

"Because _you_ think it's the right thing to do," Ana said. "Not because you actually care about who you're helping or hurting. It's all about _you._ "

"You talk a lot of shit," Kumatora said. "Let's see if you know actually know me well enough to overcome my combat style, Ceresian." She adopted a combat stance. "Let's not blast these houses with psionics. Deal?"

"Deal," Ana said. She tossed her battleaxe aside. "I don't even need a weapon to beat you."

Kumatora smirked. They both knew that in a contest between two psions, weapons were less useful than most would suspect. A well-placed foot or fist could inflict the same damage as a cudgel without the bulk and weight drawbacks. In a combat setting where psions could take enough punishment that individual attacks mattered little, the range advantage that weapons provided could be overcome without much difficulty.

Kumatora leapt at Ana, attacking with a flurry of fists. The girl was faster than Ana gave her credit for; she managed to dodge Ana's attacks while landing blows on vulnerable spots of Ana's body. She swung low in attempts to trip and shoved Ana in hopes that she would topple. Only Ana's years of practice against Ninten allowed her to stay standing; Ninten always went for the dirtiest tricks since he couldn't beat her in a fair fight.

 _Okay,_ Ana thought. _This is my chance to finally teach this bitch a lesson._

Kumatora lunged in and jabbed a pair of fingers into Ana's eyes. Ana cried out in pain, but she managed to maintain control of her body. Instead of grabbing onto her face like Kumatora likely expected, Ana reached out and snatched Kumatora's neck with her right hand. She lifted Kumatora off the ground and her vision cleared as Kumatora tried to free herself from Ana's grasp. Ana bashed Kumatora's head into the wall, hoping that the pain would overwhelm her.

Kumatora flailed and landed a kick on Ana's face. The surprise rather than the pain caused Ana to release her grip on Kumatora, who tumbled to the ground and hopped back to her feet.

"Oh, psych," Kumatora said. "You're better than I thought."

"Likewise," Ana said, resisting the urge to rub the sore spots on her body. "It's been a long time since I actually felt strained to beat someone in physical combat."

"I'm starting to think that this may not be worth my energy. Do you want to finish this later? Maybe call it a draw?"

Ana checked her aura's strength and found it quite low. All of Kumatora's random hits had added up and came close to taking her out.

"Sure," Ana said. "I really didn't kill the Scaraban man, by the way."

"I guess I believe it," Kumatora said. "I'm just always ready to assume the worst about you. Your fake smiles drive me _psyching_ insane."

"Likewise. Your cavalier attitude makes me want to pull my hair out."

Kumatora smiled. Ana hadn't expected that. Even if Kuma could be a bit of an ass, Ana was glad to see that she could at least _take_ a beating in stride.

"Lifeup," Ana said, healing herself. "Do you need me to patch up your wounds?"

Kumatora shook her head and healed herself with Lifeup.

"We should take our anger out on each other more," Kumatora said. "It seems healthier than bottling our hatred up."

Right then, Ana detected a _massive_ spike of psionics right above her. She looked up and saw what looked like a withered starman inside a mostly enclosed metal sphere. Why had something this powerful not joined the battle before? Ana would have detected it from an ocean away.

"Oh, psych," Kumatora said. "I know you, don't I?"

"GREETINGS, MY CHILD," the alien transmitted using telepathy. "IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME BY YOUR STANDARDS, YES?"

"Giygas," Kumatora said in a hushed voice. "We met in the staff archives back on Ceres, didn't we?"

"YES. AND WE MET… BEFORE. LORRAINE AND I CREATED YOUR RACE. I AM YOUR REAL MOTHER. BUT SHE BETRAYED ME."

"Lorraine?" Ana said. "Who the psych is that?"

"Don't ask me," Kumatora said. "Although the name does sound familiar…"

"YOU ARE THE LAST OSOHE. YOU ARE MINE."

Kumatora gasped, then vanished from sight. What had Gigyas just done? Ana hadn't detected any psionic aura involved.

"You choose to capture her now?" Ana asked. "If you could reach her whenever you wanted, why didn't you do this months ago?"

"YOU DO NOT DWELL ABOUT WASTING MERE SECONDS BEFORE GETTING OUT OF BED," Giygas transmitted. "I DO NOT DWELL ABOUT WASTING MERE MONTHS BEFORE RECLAIMING MY CHILD. GOODBYE, PUNY HUMAN."

Giygas disappeared from sight.

"You little piece of shit," Ana muttered, although she wasn't quite sure who she was referring to.

Ana wanted to sit down to think and talk to herself further. After all, she would likely never see Kumatora again, and the poor girl had gone down in a thoroughly uninspiring way. But she still needed to find Claus and Ness. Ana gritted her teeth.

 _Fight for the living,_ she thought. _Do what you can and hope that you don't cross paths with that… thing._

Ana continued walking down the alley, pushing thoughts of Kumatora to the back of her mind. She knew that Kumatora wouldn't approve of her bottling up her anger and sorrow, but Ana couldn't afford to let her emotions control her at a time like this.

* * *

Jeff was still where he was in Zanine's scrying image. As Ninten stepped out into the street and walked towards him, Jeff's eyes flashed with panic. Jeff raised his laser gun and fired at Ninten. The shot grazed past his left shoulder, singeing his clothing.

"So we're enemies now?" Ninten asked. "Is that how it is?"

"Ninten!" Jeff said, his hands trembling. "I… didn't know it was you."

"Will you shoot me again if I come closer?"

Jeff gulped, his face growing even paler than his normal, Eagleish skin tone.

"No," he said. "I'm sorry."

Ninten took cautious steps forward. It was only until he got closer that he saw a man in psion's robes lying on the ground next to Jeff.

"Who's that guy?" Ninten asked.

"I don't know," Jeff said, his voice quivering. "He attacked me and I panicked. I increased the power of my laser gun so that it would kill a normal person. I kept firing at him until he… he…"

"It's all right," Ninten said. "We've all been there."

"I killed him!" Jeff said. "I psyching…" he buried his face in his hands. "I wanted to be strong like you and Ana. I wanted to make a difference. But I never knew that it would feel like _this_."

 _So killing Scarabans before you sided with Zanine didn't make you feel bad, but this does?_

But how had Jeff managed to defeat the psion in the first place? A single mind thrust from a decently powerful psion could take out any normal person. Ninten focused on the aura radiating from Jeff's shirt. While all psionically enhanced items gave off an aura of sorts, this one was different. It surrounded Jeff's body, almost like a psion's aura…

"Divine Rulers," Ninten said. "You're a genius."

"Hmm?" Jeff said.

"Your armor," Ninten said. "How it gives you an aura that can resist attacks just like a psion's."

Jeff shrugged.

"It's almost out of energy," he said. "And you can't refill it with Lifeup. I'll need to find some new crystals to power it."

Ninten shook his head in wonder. This was _huge._ Political leaders could now be regular people and have some defense against psion assassins. People working dangerous jobs could give themselves an extra couple of lives. If the universe survived through Giygas' invasion, Ninten suspected that he would hardly be able to recognize it.

"But it doesn't matter," Jeff said. "I _killed_ someone. And he's not the only one. I fired bottle rockets at a group of psions only to realize that Ana was among them. She survived, but…" Jeff drew a shaky breath. "I'm no better than Claus."

"Claus?" Ninten said. "What did he do?"

"He tried to kill me," Jeff said, his iron voice causing Ninten to flinch. "Because I was 'too dangerous.'"

 _Well, I can see where Claus was coming from,_ Ninten admitted to himself.

"I guess I've missed a lot," Ninten said.

"How do you do it?" Jeff asked, looking down at the dead psion.

"Do what?"

"This." Jeff gestured to the area around him. "War. You lived through this on Vulcan, right? You got separated from the main group and you had to find your way back through deadly mines. How did you do it?"

"With difficulty," Ninten said, feeling himself grimace. "After I killed someone for the first time, I spent three days locked in a room bawling my eyes out."

"Really?" Jeff asked. "You just seem so strong."

"I'm a weak person," Ninten said with a shrug. "But the tears aren't why. I get quite emotional at times. It's not a strength or a weakness. It just _is._ "

"I don't really understand," Jeff said. "But talking to you makes me feel a little better."

"So what the psych has been going on here?" Ninten asked. "I go off to find the Sound Stone and the next thing I know you're at war with Ceres."

"That's party my fault," Jeff said. "I created these bottle rockets. Long distance bombs that don't require a psion to activate, basically." His gaze wavered. "It's… why Claus tried to kill me. And he's not alone. Ceres got so scared by their threat that they're trying to subjugate Scaraba."

"That does seem rather Ceresian," Ninten said. "To treat people like trash and beat them down further when they get mad and rise up."

"Not that all Scarabans are amazing people, either," Jeff said. "I saw a group murder an actual native to this land with no real cause. This whole business is so psyching complicated."

"At least you can see the complexity," Ninten said.

"But that doesn't _help_ me. What do we do now?"

"I have no idea," Ninten said. "Wait. There's a psion approaching."

Ninten looked and saw a boy not much older than him walking up with pursed lips and furrowed eyebrows. Ninten couldn't tell if he was Dalaamian or Scaraban, but either way he carried the aura of a psion. That made him a threat.

"Hello," Jeff said. "Who might you be?"

"The name's Darius," he said. Darius paused, taking a look at Jeff. "Are you the psionic engineer that Zanine used?"

Jeff gulped and nodded.

"And you," Darius said, turning towards Ninten. "You're not Ness, are you?"

"You know him?" Ninten said. "And yeah, I'm Ninten."

"Ah, the emperor's descendent."

Jeff raised an eyebrow.

"You never told me that, Ninten."

"It's not something that I'm proud of," Ninten grumbled. "Which side are you working for, Darius?"

"Neither," he said. "I'm trying to evacuate the citizens from Fiven, but…" Darius grimaced. "There's this strange psionic aura that keeps popping up in various places. It feels as if the aura itself is telling me to keep out."

 _Oh, psych. Please don't be…_

"An aura?" Ninten said. "It's not coming from some sort of residue, is it?"

Darius' eyes widened.

"How did you know? I mean, I didn't see a lot of it, but I found bodies with a strange aura coming from their wounds."

"Psych psych _psych,_ " Ninten said. "Divine Rulers, this is worse than I thought."

"Have you seen something like this before?" Jeff asked.

"I heard about it on Vulcan," Ninten said. "We should probably check it out."

"So it's safe?" Darius asked.

"Not in the slightest. You'll probably see plenty more corpses with strange auras coming from their wounds if you tag along."

"And you still want to go, knowing that something dangerous caused it?" Darius said, cracking a smile. "I like the way you think. I'm in."

"I'll go too," Jeff said. "It's not like I have anything better to do now that I'm hiding from this battle."

"Darius," Ninten said. "Can you teleport?"

"Yeah, but the marks are close and I want to conserve my psionic power."

"I didn't mean to teleport there," Ninten said. "Keep your guard ready. Whoever did this can probably kill you in a couple of hits and is known for overpowering a psionic stall. If you sense a powerful psionic entity nearby, I need you teleport us the _psych_ out of there."

Darius' eyes flashed with understanding.

"All right," he said, his voice sobering. "I'll be on the lookout."

* * *

Claus realized that this alley must be some kind of special path, because it lasted forever. By the time that he exited, he looked at the position of the towering military complex for reference and realized that he was on the western side of the city.

 _So,_ Claus thought. _Where do I go now?_

Looking back, he probably shouldn't have left Ana behind. She could have teleported them both out… although just because she _could_ have didn't mean she _would_ have saved his ass. After all, she probably didn't know that the Scaraban psion was really Diana Carpainter. And if she did, it probably wouldn't garner much sympathy. "Diana Carpainter" was a name synonymous with evil.

While Claus was thinking, his psionic senses picked up on something… odd. He shrugged and walked towards the source, figuring that he didn't have anything better to do. Even if he got himself killed, the universe wouldn't be missing much.

It didn't take long before Claus saw the corpses.

Hundreds lay on the open streets, each one sliced open with a sword. By looking at their clothing, Claus identified them as civilians. He bent down to examine a corpse and his psionic senses detected all of the cuts on the person's body.

He stood straight up. He knew exactly who did this.

"Lucas," he growled. "Maybe I should have continued with my mission to kill you."

In the back of his mind, Claus recalled that he _did_ try to kill Lucas, but that hardly brought him any solace.

 _It's Giygas' fault,_ Claus thought. _Right when Lucas was going to become human again, Giygas captured him and turned him back into a mindless killer._

Claus gritted his teeth. He would teach Giygas a lesson, but first he needed to search for survivors. He detected two actual psions ahead and ran towards them at a steady pace. When he got closer, he saw them looking down at a body on the ground. Was it someone they knew, perhaps?

As Claus got closer still, he recognized one of the two psions as Ninten. Additionally, Jeff stood next to the two psions, carrying devices that Claus detected with his psionic senses. He didn't recognize the second psion; he was not much older than Claus and looked vaguely Scaraban. Jeff turned around and his eyes widened upon spotting Claus.

"Don't you dare take a step closer!" Jeff shouted, holding a laser gun in his trembling hands. "I swear I'll shoot!"

"Who is that on the ground?" Claus said.

He ran closer. Jeff fired lasers at Claus. The pain was nothing compared to the anticipation.

"Get the psych away!" Jeff screeched. "I'll psyching kill you!"

 _Poor kid,_ Claus thought, looking into Jeff's panicked eyes. _I really gave him the scare of his life back there. Why is it always so hard to know the right thing to do?_

"Go… away…" Jeff said, firing another laser.

"I'm sorry, Jeff," Claus said. "I promise that I won't hurt you."

"Like I would trust any promise coming from _you."_ Jeff fired off two more lasers.

"I just want to see," Claus said, moving in closer.

"Jeff," Ninten said. "I don't think that we can really stop Claus. Let's just step back and give him his chance. I promise I'll protect you if he comes after you again."

Jeff nodded and gulped. He took careful steps back, always keeping his laser gun pointed at Claus. Ninten walked back next to him, putting a smile on his face and a hand on Jeff's shoulder. When he met Claus eyes, though, he glared and reached for the hilt of his sword.

What a mess.

Claus walked towards the remaining psion after Ninten and Jeff backed away.

"It's Claus, yes?" the psion asked. He spoke with a Scaraban accent. "You may want to see this."

"You are?"

"The name's Darius. Come closer."

Claus walked up to Darius, standing right over the body on the ground. Claus gasped when he saw the face.

 _No,_ he thought. _Nononono. Not him. Please, anyone but him…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _Anyone but Ness._

A part of Claus died on the inside.

"I only left him for a short while," Darius said. "If I had come back sooner…"

"Then you would have died with him," Claus said. "Even if you could teleport, you wouldn't survive two hits from the person who did this."

"That's what Ninten tells me," Darius said. "But I still feel terrible. He was a far better person than I will ever be."

Claus resisted the urge to sock Darius in the face.

 _Don't say "was!"_ he wanted to shout. _Ness is still real. He's still there. Please please please… he can't be gone._

 _He can't._

Claus felt tears run down to his cheek. How long had it been since he had last cried? It felt good to let some of the emotion run free.

"Claus!" someone shouted from far away. "Why the psych did you run off on me like that?"

A chill ran down Claus' spine as soon as he heard the voice. He turned around to spot Ana running towards him.

 _Please,_ Claus thought. _He meant so much more to Ana than he did to me. Please… I don't even know what I'm begging for anymore. Nothing will ever be right again._

"I know," Ana said. "This is Lucas' work, isn't it? Anyone would be a little somber." She slowed to a walk. "Hey Jeff. What's wrong? Why are you looking at Claus with a death glare?"

"I'll explain later," Ninten said.

"And _you_ can't even look into my eyes when we talk," she told Ninten. "Come on, I didn't know where you were for these past few weeks. I know that this is sad, but can't we be happy to see each other again?"

"Ana," Claus said, standing up and facing her. "You should take a look at this."

Ana's gaze faltered. She nearly dropped the axe in her hands.

"Psych," she said. "You look serious."

Claus backed away as she walked up to Ness' body.

"Ness?" she said, her voice a mixture of surprise and curiosity. Claus could tell that she was trying to protect herself from the truth. "What happened to you? Ness, are you okay?"

She stood up and looked at everyone around. Claus was the only one who met her gaze.

"What… happened?" she asked. "I don't… understand."

"I think you know," Claus said.

The look of realization on Ana's face nearly tore Claus' heart apart.

"No," she said, bending down and shaking Ness' body. "No! He was supposed to be _safe_. This isn't real. This _can't_ be real. Ness… I just wanted you to be safe…"

"Unfortunately, this is real," Darius said. "I can only say that I could not be more sorry."

"I…" Ana's face shifted into a half-grimace, half snarl. "I can't…"

She tightened the grip on her axe.

"Please," Darius said, taking a step towards her and reaching out.

Ana lashed out, catching Darius with the sharp end of her axe. He went flying back and landed in the sands.

"Don't. Come. Near. Me." Ana pointed her axe at Darius with murder in her eyes. "Do you understand?"

Ninten ran forward.

"Ana!" he shouted. "Please, don't do this. You said that you wanted to control this part of yourself, right?"

As Ninten neared Ana, she swung her axe towards him, missing by a hair's length.

"Ana…" Ninten said.

"Get out of my face!"

She slammed her axe into Ninten's side, sending him to the ground like Darius. She raised her axe above her head and uttered a feral growl.

 _Okay,_ Claus thought. _I've stood by for too long._

Claus dashed in, catching Ana's axe on his sword as it flew towards Ninten. She looked at Claus with all of the malice in the world. It was the kind of look that would wither most right on the spot.

"Just look at what you're doing!" Claus said. "You're almost acting like _me._ "

Ana took a step back, seeming to wake up from her trance of rage. She looked around and gasped in horror.

"Oh no!" she said. "I… I did this, didn't I? I could never hold myself back when it mattered." She turned away. "And I'm still so _angry._ But this isn't your fault." She turned back, her eyes alight. "Zanine. It's all her fault. These Scarabans are under _her_ control."

"My brother did this," Claus said. "Not Zanine. I don't like her much more than you, but I don't think that we can pin her for this."

"And who's Lucas working for?" Ana asked. "Giygas. Who's working with the starmen, and therefore Giygas? Zanine. She must have planned this."

"Ana, you're not making any sense," Claus said.

"I DON'T CARE IF I PSYCHING MAKE SENSE OR NOT." Ana raised her axe for a moment before lowering it in shame. "Even now, I still can't… control…" Ana sank to her knees. "I'm going to kill Zanine. Teleport."

Ana faded and disappeared like a mirage.

Nobody spoke for minutes.


	18. Chapter 17: No Going Back

**Part 5 of the Ceres trilogy ends today. :) I might take a break from updating (a shorter break than last time haha) after this. I might not. Either way, you can expect interludes to come next. I'm not sure if I have all of them organized in the way that I want them to, but the following interludes won't be the only ones in Ceres. There's still a ways to go before we fill in the missing gaps in Claus' and Lucas' pasts.**

 **Anyways, this chapter has a bit of the bleakness that can occur in the middle of a third entry of a trilogy. I have to show this world at its worst before showing it at its best to make you guys care. :( I think it's still important to show a lot of what happens in this chapter, even if it's not always the most pleasant to talk about. Man, I'm bad at selling my chapters. I do honestly think that you guys will find something in this chapter that you like, though. If you've been reading the story for this long, then hopefully you're at least a bit invested in how everything ties together.**

 **Anyways, this is really the last chapter in Scaraba. After this, we return to Ceres for the final acts. The threat of Giygas looms above, and it's up to our heroes to stop them.**

 **...Yes, I'll say right now that there is going to be a Giygas fight. :) But there are also some twists that I'm hoping you'll enjoy in the final parts of Ceres.**

 **Thank you so much for reading this far. It means the world to me. :D Reviews are always always _always_ appreciated.**

 **Just be warned that after we pass this point...**

 _ **There really will be no turning back.**_

* * *

 _Looking back, I feel like I should have known what was about to happen to Scaraba. All of the warning signs were there. Power attracts power, and the powers flung around in Fiven were the greatest in all of human history up to that point._

 _Still, I don't think that anyone was expecting the end result._

* * *

Ana Aniah appeared in the Scaraban military complex's prison. She would have teleported directly to Zanine if she could, but teleport psionics only allowed her to visit places she had already been to.

And oh, could she _remember_ this prison.

Ana shined light from her eyes like a pair of flashlights, finding the door and smashing it down. Of course, she could have just opened it, but she wasn't in the mood to treat architecture delicately.

A pair of Scaraban prison guards spotted Ana and fled. She resisted the urge to chase them down, reminding herself that her quarrel was with Zanine. Even in her enraged state, she could still hold onto a _little_ bit of her self-restraint.

Ana lumbered through the prison, busting down doors until she found the way out. She walked up a set of steps and appeared aboveground and outside. A dozen Scaraban guards spotted her and tried to rush her down. Ana used Mind Thrust to send enough of them into concussions so that she could deal with the rest. She lashed out with her axe, breaking through defenses with sheer strength alone.

Fighting with her axe would conserve psionic energy, but Ana knew the real reason for swinging her weapon around was that she wanted to feel the _thud_ of her axe hitting flesh. She did her best to wound and cripple rather than kill, but in the heat of the moment… Well, Ana wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she had been racking up her death count. After finishing with the soldiers, Ana ran towards the large building in the center.

"There is no need for you to fight more of my men," Zanine said, teleporting in front of Ana. "I am the one you want, yes?"

"Indeed." Ana bared her teeth. "I am going to enjoy this."

Zanine stepped back, letting Ana's axe graze past her. "Is this about holding you in prison? I'm sorry."

Of course she was sorry now that Ana was a _threat._

"Jeff said that you promised not to harm Ness," Ana said, blood pounding in her ears, "But you killed him. That was a mistake."

"Please listen," Zanine said. "I did not do anything. I told my soldiers not to harm him."

"The thing is, I don't _care._ " Ana lashed out with her axe. "Ness was my entire universe. I looked inside of his eyes and saw a world full of hope. I saw a world full of _wonder,_ from crystal towers that graze the sky to bottomless blue lakes _._ Now it's all gone, and you have to deal with my vengeful spirit."

Zanine faded back away from Ana's reach, shooting blasts of fire. The heat bothered Ana more than the pain. In the outside with the midday Scaraban sun beating down on her, she would start to get seriously dehydrated soon.

"I am sorry," Zanine said, "But thinking that killing me will somehow make this better is stupid."

"Even if I'm stupid, I can end your psyching life."

Ana yelled and smashed her axe into Zanine's side. The Scaraban woman tumbled to the ground before hopping on her feet and blasting Ana with white-hot fire.

"Barbaric," Zanine said. "Little girls like you should not be swinging such ugly weapons."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ana saw a group of Scaraban soldiers charging at her. She whispered an incantation, moved her hands, and a ball of fire exploded on top of them. Each soldier was engulfed by the blast, and when the smoke cleared only charred bodies remained. Zanine shot more blasts of fire at Ana, burning her skin for a split second before her psionic aura repaired her body.

"You send soldiers at me for the purposes of depleting my psionic energy?" Ana said, moving in and slamming her axe into Zanine's chest. "The flames in your hand are a lie. You're ice-cold, woman."

"I'm not the one who's killing dozens of men with the flick of my wrist," Zanine said, healing herself and firing off more bolts.

Ana gasped as the flames started to lick away at her clothing. She could feel her body sweating like crazy. She teetered, struggling to remain balanced.

"Healing," she muttered, and the feeling subsided somewhat.

Still, Ana knew that she had to close this out quickly. Even if she could maintain homeostasis with psionics, it took up a lot of energy to keep herself from overheating..

Ana abandoned all semblance of defense and moved in, swinging her axe with all of the strength she could muster. Even through her rage, she didn't let her combat style turn wild. Cold and calculated was the way to win this heated battle.

Zanine tried to retreat, but Ana was faster, following her with more strokes from her axe. Zanine stalled the damage from Ana and healed herself constantly while firing off more heat beams and fire orbs in an attempt to put Ana back on the defensive.

Ana ignored the heat and pressed her advantage. While psions had the luxury of taking damage gradually, they also _healed_ damage gradually. If she could land enough strokes, she would be able to overpower Zanine's healing.

Another band of Scaraban soldiers charged at Ana from the side; she took them out with another explosion. Zanine took the opportunity to dash away and recover, but Ana only gave her a brief moment before jumping back into combat.

"Are you sure that you can fight in this heat?" Zanine asked. "You cannot be used to this, foreigner."

Ana snarled and continued to swing her axe. Her actions spoke for her.

Even though Zanine continued to heal, Ana could spot small cuts appearing on her skin, which indicated that her psionic aura was almost out. Ana baked in the Scarban sun, but spotting a weakness in Zanine's strategy gave Ana the last burst of energy that she needed. She hacked at Zanine with her axe, using all of the energy that the sun had not yet sapped away.

The wounds from those attacks barely faded at all from Zanine's aura. The Scaraban psion collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from her wounds.

"Well… fought," Zanine said.

Ana raised her axe above her head. Zanine closed her eyes.

The axe dropped from Ana's hands, landing on the ground in front of her. She sank to her knees, no longer able to find the strength to stand. Her entire body felt like it was burning up. Black spots covered her field of vision.

 _Oh,_ Ana thought. _This is what sunstroke feels like, isn't it?_

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _Why is this sensation so cold?_

She vaguely heard Zanine rasping a laugh.

This wasn't right. Nothing was. Ana had _won._ Even if she died here and now, she had avenged Ness' death. She should be happy.

 _I don't even remember what happiness feels like,_ Ana thought. _Maybe it was all a lie._

Ana vaguely registered landing face first on the brick ground before the universe went black.

* * *

"Ninten," Claus said, extending a hand to help him up. "Are you all right?"

"A little shaken," Ninten said, letting Claus pull him to his feet. "But yeah, I'm fine."

Ninten hadn't even been bothered by Ana's fit of rage itself. Her eyes, though… They reminded him of a time before. Ninten squeezed his eyes shut and recalled that one fateful day.

 _The sun bright in the sky, shining down on the city of Podunk…_

 _Ana lunged at him with a smile on her face and determination in her eyes. This fight was about to get real._

 _But a part of Ninten was concerned. Ana had come close to hurting him before when she was set on beating him. He trusted her, of course…_

 _but…_

 _Oh no._

 _Please._

 _Ana, can you hear me? It's… Ninten._

 _Don't hurt me._

 _I can't…_

 _PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NONONONO-_

Ninten's eyes shot back open. Had Ana ever really changed since that day? Had _any_ of them changed? It took so little to crack a human. So little to _break_ a mind and toss away the pieces.

"Ninten," Claus said.

"Huh?"

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Darius said.

"I'm… fine," Ninten said. He looked over at Jeff, who was still quivering in fear. "Hey Jeff, how are you holding up?"

"I'm okay," Jeff said, attempting a shaky smile. "I wasn't the one who nearly got killed just a few seconds ago."

"But you're still facing the person who nearly killed you a few hours ago," Ninten said, taking a long stare at Claus.

Claus sighed, crossing his hands over his chest.

"So," Darius said, flashing a preemptive grimace. "What all happened between you? I assume that you all knew Ness, since…" he gestured towards Ness' corpse.

The past tense of the word "knew" hit Ninten like a punch to the gut. How could someone as wonderful as Ness possibly be _gone?_

Before anyone had time to answer Darius' question, Poo teleported in front of Ness' corpse. He stumbled, nearly tripping over Ness' body. One look at the prince's haggard face told Ninten that he was on his last ounce of strength.

"Ninten," Poo said. "I finally… found you. Take this."

He held the Sword of Kings in front of him.

"Don't… stab her with it. Don't let her touch it."

Ninten walked up and grabbed the sword, wrapping an arm around Poo's waist for support.

"Who are you talking about?" Ninten asked.

Mary teleported right in front of Poo, floating inches above the ground.

"Ah, more people," Mary said in a monotone voice. "Master Gigyas told me to kill Ceresians, but this body…"

Mary fired a pale beam at Ninten that made blurred his vision with pain. Ninten struggled to keep hold of the Sword of Kings as he ran away and healed himself.

"I am sorry," Mary said. "At least, as much as a starman can feel sorrow or apology."

"So not at all," Claus said with a sneer.

Claus ran up and took a swing at Mary. She stepped out of the way, letting the sword graze past her side, and fired a blast from her eyes that send Claus flying back several feet.

"That dodge reminded me of Lucas," Claus said, leaping to his feet. "Are you a savant?"

"Essentially," Mary said. "But it needs its spirit back to gain access to its full potential."

"And the spirit is stored inside of that sword," Darius said. It wasn't a question. "We need to teleport away."

"No use," Poo said, panting heavily. "She'll just follow. I barely managed to stay ahead of her for a few minutes."

"Which was impressive," Mary said. "So why don't you just hand over the sword? Even without the psionics of a godlike savant, I can still track the sword down and defeat anyone who possesses it. Not that _I_ want your little blade, but this body certainly does."

"I've beaten a savant before," Claus said. "I guess you'll just have to be my second!"

Claus charged in, but once again Mary avoided Claus' blow. She swung low with her right leg and tripped Claus, sending him sprawling on the ground. She abandoned her float, landing on the ground and walking towards Ninten.

Ninten moved the Sword of Kings to his left hand and pulled out a standard sword with his right.

"Why don't you just give up?" Mary asked. "You know that you cannot defeat me."

This time, both Darius and Claus rushed in with their swords extended. Mary somehow managed to twist between both blades and slammed her palms into both Claus' and Darius' faces. She went on the offensive with a flurry of punches and kicks aimed towards both opponents. Ninten knew that people could really only focus on one enemy at a time, but Mary reacted to and attacked both Darius and Claus with her full focus.

She tripped Claus again and landed a blow that sent Darius sprawling on the ground. She stepped on Claus' neck with her left foot and Darius' with her right, threatening to crush them once their protective psionic auras ran out.

"You cannot defeat me," Mary said. "Just give up. I've already submitted to the will of this body."

She made a hand motion and Ninten felt the Sword of Kings start to fly away from his hands. He held on as tightly as he could, but his lack of strength embarrassed him once again. He knew that he could only hold on for a few seconds until Mary wrenched it from his hands with psychokinesis.

"Just let go," Mary said. "Why are you resisting?"

Ninten screamed, determined to hold on for as long as he possibly could. Claus and Darius struggled to free themselves and managed to pull Mary's feet off of their throats. The near-savant didn't even appear to notice. After a few long, excruciating moments, the sword flew away from Ninten's grip towards Mary.

"No!" Ninten shouted.

Right as the blade was about to reach Mary's hand, Jeff ran up and snatched it out of the air. He groaned, pulling the sword away with his own scrawny arms.

"I don't know what you'll do if you get your spirit back," Jeff said, "But if you're anything like Lucas, then I think I'll be doing you a favor."

Darius and Claus ran over and held onto the sword along with Jeff, but Ninten could tell that they weren't doing much in the way of helping. Jeff's iron grip alone prevented Mary from obtaining her psionic spirit back.

 _But how?_ Ninten thought. _Jeff's just a regular kid._

"Hmph," Mary said. "I guess I'll do this the other way."

Mary hovered off the ground using her levitation powers once more. She flew forward and impaled herself upon the Sword of Kings.

"No!" Jeff shouted, pulling back and trying to rip the sword out of her chest.

Ninten darted forward to assist, but they were all too late. A flash of green energy sent them all tumbling back. Mary rose into the sky, her expression drunk with power. She closed her eyes and took a long breath, her expression changing from power-crazy to resigned in an instant. When she opened her eyes, tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You all tried your best. I don't blame you for any of this. Now _run,_ " Her expression turned to steel, "Before I lose my conscience entirely."

* * *

Starman Jenny was back in her starman body, standing on fluffy ground colored light pink. Even though she was in her starman body, she could _see_ the world around her just like a human. Quite strange, really. Jenny didn't know what to make of anything that had happened recently.

She looked (actually looked!) around, spotting walls made out of grey, pointed pillars and houses made of pink fluff. People wearing pointy hats strutted to and fro, not giving Mary so much as a passing glance.

In all of her experiences throughout the centuries as a starman, Jenny had never seen anything remotely _close_ to this. She thought back to when she controlled Mary's body, remembering what felt like a ring of fire that lit up around her chest when she impaled herself on the Sword of Kings. And then…

Jenny supposed that she wasn't in control of the body anymore, which is why she was stuck here. But what _was_ this place?

A man wearing non-Ceresian garb teleported in front of her. He peeled a banana and took a bite.

"Welcome, starman," the person said. "This realm is known as Magicant. I wonder if the other recruit will arrive soon."

"Who are you?" Jenny asked. "You humans pride yourself on distinction, yes? What is your… name?"

"I'm not a human," the man said. "But we Osohe are not so different. I've been dubbed Fassad. Like, you know, a façade."

"But why would anyone _name_ you that?"

"It's supposed to be clever. I don't find it particularly amusing myself. You can also call me Locria, if you wish."

"Greetings, Locria," Jenny said. "I am starman 100101011011, but humans find it easier to call me Jenny."

"Ah, you starmen talk entirely in binary, yes?" Fassad said. "It makes sense to only have two symbols when you can transmit massive amounts of information with telepathy, I suppose."

"I am… surprised that you know so much about us," Jenny said.

"I know enough to understand that you don't fit in with them," Fassad said. "But hey, welcome to the club. I wasn't your normal Osohe."

Right then, a brown-haired woman wearing a plain dress appeared in front of Jenny. Fassad greeted her with a smile.

"Oh my," the woman said. "I can _walk_ again." A smile came to her face. "You have no idea what it's like to be trapped in one of those horrible knives."

"Tell me about it," Fassad said. "I've been stuck in one for three thousand years."

"And this is a starman," the woman said, shoving a finger at Jenny. "Shall we kill it?"

"I do not think that death really works in this realm," Fassad said. "We are in the cognitive rather than the physical plane."

So _that_ was why Jenny could see. It was just her psionic senses masquerading as sight.

"It seems so… tangible," Jenny said.

"Yes, the human mind will do this," Fassad said. "I've been in many of these places before, and they all look surreal yet real at the same time. This is Hinawa, by the way." Fassad pointed to the brown-haired woman. "Both of our spirits got stuck in the Sword of Kings as well. We're inside Mary's body, but we got relegated back to this realm, which mostly exists in Mary's unconscious."

"And so did I," Jenny said. "Because I was in her body controlling her, but now that she has her sprit back…"

"Yep," Fassad said with a smirk. "You got booted here. There's not much any of us can do about it. We should just look up and enjoy the show."

Starman Jenny looked towards the sky and saw a screen displayed on the upper dome of Magicant, displaying the world from Mary's view. Mary rose into the sky, powering up for an ultimate psionic attack…

* * *

Diana Carpainter teleported as soon as she sensed the massive psionic spike over in the area where Ness was evacuating citizens. She took in the scene with a single glance: she spotted Ness dead on the ground from Lucas' blades, his exhausted friends backing away, and a woman in the sky manifesting a power so dangerous that it blinded Diana's psionic senses.

How the psych had this happened so quickly?

Diana wanted to check out Ness' body, but she had no time to spare. With her heart in her throat, she used antigravity psionics and flew up to the woman.

Once she got a closer look, there was no mistaking what this woman was. She possessed the milky eyes of a savant and gave off an aura so powerful that Diana could sense it through the overwhelming ability that she was in the process of manifesting. This woman was a killing machine, just like Lucas.

Unlike Lucas, however, she wasn't limiting to summoning weapons. Normal savants could use psionics that would allow them to level cities in a single sweep.

 _Oh, Voice,_ Diana thought, thinking of the ghost back on Ceres. _This is what you came so close to becoming. I'm glad that you don't have to see your worst fears become someone else's reality._

Diana summoned a transparent, purple sphere that trapped her and the savant inside. The sphere wouldn't block the savant from moving in and out, but any psionics would fizzle upon hitting the purple barrier. The woman grinned and rose higher in the air; Diana followed her while moving the sphere so it continued to engulf her.

The woman's hands glowed with a white light. Diana didn't know what that meant, but she doubted that it was good news. Beams shot out and fizzled when they hit the purple sphere around her. The savant attempted to teleport out, but the sphere blocked the psionics.

"This is like the barrier that surrounds Ceres, yes?" the woman asked, her green eyes shining with amusement. "I'm impressed that you can recreate it."

The woman's hands continued firing lasers at the inside layer of the spherical shell. Diana pumped more energy into the sphere to boost its resistance. She had never met anyone who could break through the sphere, but she could feel the woman's lasers start to wear it down.

"Exceptional," the woman said, looking at Diana in approval. "You hold a lot of power. Nobody else has been more than a momentary distraction for me."

"And you are…?" Diana said.

"Mary. Empress Mary."

"Didn't you die 80 years ago?"

Mary's flashed a cruel grin. "Don't believe everything they tell you."

Diana looked at the sword stuck in the Mary's chest. She had heard whisperings and legends about the weapon called the Sword of Kings that consisted of the legendary knives such as Dynaldas, but she had never suspected that it actually existed.

"And with a lot of extra baggage? More spirits than yours are stuffed into that sword, yes?"

Mary growled, confirming Diana's suspicions. Mary's lasers continued to wear down Diana's anti-psionics sphere.

"I don't care who you are or what you know," Mary said. "I am a psionic savant. Nobody can stop me."

"I was under the impression that psionic savants could not speak. Are you not yet a machine of death?"

"I am not a perfect savant in that sense," Mary said, flashing a grin. "But it helps not to be a simple output device like that boy Lucas. My power is already incredible enough that none can oppose me; why should I go after more strength?" She rotated her head, looking at the city down below with contempt. "Freedom is strength in itself. I would never give up my free will."

"You already have."

The savant snorted in derision. Diana could feel her power running low as she reinforced her sphere further. Mary smiled, her lasers growing in power and size.

 _I can't hold her back,_ Diana realized. _I'm running out of power from blocking her lasers, and she's not even slowing down._

For the first time in her life, Diana Carpainter found herself unable to face her enemy directly. In the past, her struggles had come from deciding what she _should_ do, not what she _could_ do. But now, facing this woman with blazing green eyes and a sociopathic attitude, Diana was powerless to do anything.

…No.

Diana couldn't beat this woman, but she could still make a difference. After all, wasn't Jeff forced into that situation all the time?

"You could stand a much better chance if you turned into your true form," Mary said. Noting Diana's surprise, she continued, "Yes, not many people can tell. You've done an excellent job pretending to be one of them. But humans are all weak _._ You don't need to be one of them." Mary's grin widened. "Don't worry about fitting in. You have so much _power_ at your fingertips. If only you would use it."

"I refuse to resort to… _that._ "

"Oh, but aren't you running out of energy?" Mary asked, her lasers growing even brighter. "After I break through, I'm going to vaporize this entire city."

"You wouldn't," Diana said, looking Mary straight in the eye.

"Try me."

Diana used a precious bit of psionic energy not to refuel the barrier sphere but to project her voice so it boomed across the entire town.

"Attention!" she shouted, the volume of her voice nearly breaking her own ears. "Everyone must evacuate the city immediately. I'm holding back a force of evil for as long as I can, but my strength will fail me soon. Everyone in the city is in danger."

"And people who are outside the city will miraculously be fine?" Mary asked. "Is that what you truly believe?"

"They'll be safer," Diana said. "Maybe not by much, but this is all I can do."

Diana thought she saw a twinge of sorrow in Mary's expression, but it faded away the next moment. Diana wasn't sure if she was just imagining things. She felt herself run dangerously low on psionic power and absorbed the energy from a pack of psionic crystals in her pocket. It wasn't much, but it would give her a few seconds of repairing the barrier.

"Every second matters," Diana whispered to herself. "Every second could save lives."

"You're running out of time," Mary said.

Diana gulped. She knew that she needed to retain enough energy so that she herself could teleport away before Mary unleashed her wrath upon Fiven. The seconds ticked down as her psionic energy drained away. She wished to bring it down to the last possible second to give people more time to escape, but she didn't want to risk her own life since it might be needed to perform this stunt again. She looked into Mary's blazing green eyes.

"You have a choice, you know," Diana said. "I've learned that it's never too far to go back."

"The normal rules don't apply when you're a psionic savant," Mary said. "I wouldn't care about going back to my old self even if I were capable of such a feat."

"Why?"

Mary closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I refuse to hold myself back. Strength that I refuse to use is hardly strength at all. Besides," Mary's eyes popped open, "I'm ushering in a new age. I can use psionics to shape the earth itself and save civilizations… or destroy them. And it all comes from _thinking_ in a different way."

"Thinking like a robot."

"Thinking like a _better_ robot. Thinking like a robot that is precise and calculated, yet free. A robot that makes real _progress_ that can change the world."

Diana continued to stare at Mary. The psionic savant smiled as Diana's power drained to a trickle.

"In a few moments," Mary said, looking Diana in the eye, "The world will never be able to go back."

At the last second before Mary was about to break through, Diana released the purple sphere surrounding her.

"Teleport!" Diana shouted, watching the world fade around her.

 _Please,_ Diana prayed. _Please don't let this be as bad as I fear._

* * *

Starman Jenny watched the screen in the sky. Diana Carpainter dropped the purple sphere surrounding Mary's body and teleported away. Jenny thought she saw tears running down Diana's cheeks.

"Psych," Fassad said, his face paling.

"Just like the pigmasks," Hinawa said, tearing out a clump of her hair without flinching. "They come. They destroy. They leave."

On the screen, Mary pointed her hands towards a part of town and shot a laser. The next moment, all of the buildings and people in that small area disappeared, leaving only perfectly flat ground behind. Jenny tried her hardest but couldn't find any sign that civilization had ever existed in that one spot.

Mary moved her hands, and the massive laser moved with it. Whatever the white light touched vanished, with the exception of the ground. And sometimes, small parts of the sandy ground _did_ vanish to create a more level surface.

A version of Mary appeared in Magicant right next to Jenny. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stumbled and fell to the ground with an awkward flop.

"I… failed," she said.

"Who are you?" Fassad asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm her conscience," Mary said. "The part of Mary that's still _her._ "

"I assume that you can't stop this?" Jenny said.

"I could try," Mary said. "But I didn't. I'm hoping that this will shock and traumatize her. Maybe it will give me something more substantial to work with."

Hinawa walked up and grabbed onto Mary's arm. She squeezed with her fingernails and drew blood, but Mary didn't appear to notice.

"You would sacrifice this entire city to gain better leverage over your body?" Hinawa asked. "You _monster._ "

"I don't think you understand me, woman," Mary said. "This destructive savant will ignore a chirping voice in the back of her head. If I act now, it will just prepare her for the larger assault I have planned. This city would fall either way."

"But you're not even trying!" Hinawa protested, digging her nails deeper into Mary's flesh.

"Sometimes, that's the best option," Mary said. "But in this case, it's the only option."

* * *

Diana's voice rang in Claus' ears even as she teleported away. The white lasers from Mary's hand started vaporizing buildings near the center of the city.

"Oh, psych," Darius said. "She's going to reach our area quickly."

 _She's going to reach any area quickly,_ Claus thought. _With her pace, the entire city will be wiped off the map in just a few minutes._

"Come in," Darius said. "Quickly!"

Poo held onto Ninten as they both walked over to Darius. Jeff ran over but kept his eyes pinned on Claus and kept his right hand at the gun holster on his waist. Poor kid. He didn't deserve the scare of his life that Claus had given him just hours earlier.

"Sorry for not helping against Mary," Poo said with a wry chuckle. "I'm still out of it."

"Not a problem," Ninten said. "You saw how much help _we_ were."

"Let us go," Darius said, his eyes wide with awe. "Teleport."

* * *

When Ana awoke, the first thing she saw was Venus' face.

"Lucky that your psionic aura alerted me to your position," Venus said. "Now let's get out of here."

Venus pointed up to the sky. Ana's gaze followed her finger and landed on a woman in the sky blasting white beams with her hand. Whatever the beam touched vaporized into thin air, exempting the ground. She had already erased a good quarter of Fiven, leaving nothing but sand behind.

"No way," Ana said. "No _psyching_ way."

"Let's go," Venus said. "We don't want that laser beam to fall on us."

"Actually," came a voice behind Ana. "I would rather appreciate that."

Ana whirled around and came face to face with Zanine.

"I healed her as well," Venus said.

"Why?" Ana asked. "I'm a deserter and she's the enemy. Why care about us?"

Venus shrugged.

"I have a soft spot for people who are powerless. Now let's _move._ "

"Ana," Zanine said. "You hate me, yes? Go ahead and kill me. There is no point in surviving if the city I've known for all of my life is going to vanish. I'll deactivate my psionic aura so that you can take my head off with a single swing."

Zanine took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Ana looked back up at the woman firing off the pale beams in the sky, and then shook her head.

"We don't have to fight anymore," Ana said, "Now that we have an enemy that wants to erase your _psyching city itself."_

Zanine shrugged.

"If you do not fight, then I will die to the pale light along with my city. It is more fitting anyway."

"That's crazy talk," Venus said. "You're coming with us."

Venus stepped forward to grab Zanine's hand. A wall of flames erupted between Venus and Zanine, nearly burning Venus' hand.

"Don't try me on this," Zanine said. "I will die here. I will die today. This is the only life I've ever known. This is the only chance I've been given. This city is _me._ My spirit will die with this city. Best to make sure that my body dies as well."

"Please," Ana said. "You'll be able to do so much more if you stay alive."

"You wanted me dead just minutes ago," Zanine said. "Besides, this is my fault. I work for Giygas. I asked him for help fighting the Ceresians. He sent _this._ "

"You couldn't have known…" Venus said.

"But my city is fading out of existence either way." Zanine looked up at the sky. "You may want to hurry. The beams are nearing our location."

Venus gritted her teeth.

"I hate dealing with women," she muttered. "Can't even seduce them." She grabbed onto Ana's arm and squeezed more tightly than Ana thought possible for a slim pop star. "She's right, though. We don't have much time. Teleport."

"No!" Ana shouted as the world around her faded away. "Goodbye, Zanine. I'm sorry…"

* * *

It was done.

The savant nodded to herself, looking at the desert below. She couldn't spot a single trace of the city that had been here just minutes earlier.

…

Mission accomplished.

…

The _power_ she held in her hands felt so sweet.

…

…

…

So why was there something _coarse_ about it?

* * *

After a few minutes, it was all over. Claus looked at what remained of the city of Fiven. If not for the unnaturally flat ground where the city once stood, he wouldn't have even been able to tell where it had been.

"Just think about it," Ninten said. "Thousands of lives. Bam! Gone. It was just one person who caused it all."

Ninten stared at the ground, balling his hands into fists. Claus couldn't blame him; he didn't know what to make of this entire mess either.

"And Mary might not be done," Ninten said. "She might come back and evaporate any city or town. Until she dies, nobody in the universe will ever feel truly safe again."

 _And after she dies,_ Claus thought, _Will someone else just take her place? I don't know if we can ever go back from this._

"Yeah," Claus said. "It's tough to deal with. Children all around the universe will have their worlds shattered as their parents start to fret and worry. Celebration will be a bit more reserved and somber." Claus shook his head. "There's nothing like fear to cling to you like a parasite and affect decision that you make."

Ninten and Claus sat on the sand for several minutes in silence.

"Do you think that Mary killed Lucas with her beams?" Claus finally asked.

"I wouldn't count on it," Ninten said. "Unless… do you want for him to still be alive?"

"I don't know," Claus said. "I don't know what to think anymore. All I learned was that I was wrong when I told Jeff that his inventions would have a bigger impact on the universe than any pure psionic innovation."

"Why did you think that?" Ninten asked.

"Look at how Dr. Andonuts changed the world by inventing for the middle class." Claus stared off into the distance. "But none of that matters when someone comes along who can take out an entire psyching city."

"That's hard to swallow for all of us," Ninten said.

"Hey guys," Jeff said from behind. When Claus turned around, Jeff cleared his throat. "Uh…"

"I'm sorry for attacking you," Claus said. "And I won't try anything like it again. _This_ is where destruction comes from, not your bombs."

"No," Jeff said. "I can… respect your attempt to stop an arms race. It will be hard for me to develop new weapons after this. I just wanted to ask if either of you had seen Poo or Darius. I took a walk by myself and now I can't find either of them."

Ninten and Claus jumped to their feet, looking around. They spotted nothing but sand and the Nile to the east.

"No clue," Claus said. "Ah, psych."

"Hopefully they'll turn up eventually," Ninten said. "They're the only ones that know how to teleport us out of here, after all."

* * *

"Where did you teleport me to?" Poo asked, looking around in the clay building where he appeared. He noted a piece of Dalaamian pottery sitting on one of the shelves. "Is this another part of Scaraba?"

"Yeah," Darius said. "And someone's coming with a request for you."

"What if I don't want to hear their request?"

"You're going to want to," Darius said.

"Hmph." Poo turned away, looking at the mixture of Scaraban and Dalaamian decorations in the room. "I failed my only job. I don't know what anyone would want from me."

"You're not seriously blaming yourself for not stopping Mary, are you?" Darius asked. "You aristocrats are supposed to take no responsibility, not too much."

Before Poo could respond, a man entered the clay hut. Poo nearly gasped and adopted a defensive combat stance.

"General Kim?" Poo asked.

But no, there was something _different_ about him. Besides slightly different facial features, this man gave off a calming aura that Poo couldn't imagine ever coming from General Kim.

"I am no general," the man said. "But my family name is Kim. I am Kim Jang-Li, See-Yoon's younger brother." He cracked a smile. "Do not worry. I am nothing like him."

Kim paced back and forth cautiously. With that smile on his face, Poo couldn't help but picture him as a kindly sage. Even though he looked young, his face carried the wisdom of someone who had lived for a hundred years.

"I am not ignorant," Poo said. "After your brother died under mysterious circumstances, you rose and took the Dalaamian throne."

"Yes, and people are starting to question my rule," Kim said. "That's where you come in."

"Oh," Poo said. "You want me to be your puppet ruler. Sorry, but no."

"Perceptive," Kim said. "But wrong. You can have the Dalaamian throne. Do whatever you want with it. Put the country back together. I'd love to see Dalaam flourish."

"There will be strings attached," Poo said. "People don't give up power by choice."

"I never said that I would give up power," Kim said. "I still hold most of Dalaam's army and resources. Darius will help establish colonies for the Scaraban refugees, and I suspect that most of Scaraba will band with us."

"So you just want to be the general?" Poo said. "I'm still not buying that."

"My goal is far larger than Dalaam," Kim said. "I know you won't believe me when I say this, but I wish to help this universe. So while I do work with Giygas from time to time…" Poo frowned, but Kim either didn't care or didn't notice, "I do have people's best interests at heart."

"Get on with it," Poo said. "Your goal is larger than Dalaam, so you want to take over a larger nation? Will you turn your army against Eagleland?"

Kim Jang Li leaned in close to Poo's ear.

"Ceres," he whispered.

Poo felt the blood drain from his face.

"You're psyching insane," he said. "You can't fight against _Ceres._ Come on, Darius. Back me up here!"

"This was our plan for years," Darius said. "If we can take control of Ceres, we can sue for peace with Giygas and end this conflict. It is more urgent now than ever to go through with this plan."

"We shall drop our swords and come in peace," Kim said. "We'll come to Ceres with rice and toys for children. The general population of Ceres hates Monotoli. It will take only weeks for us to get a revolution started."

"Because Zanine's worked so well," Poo said.

"We will do things differently," Kim said. "Zanine used violence to get what she wanted. That turns people off. We shall spread peace and love."

"You're still both psyching insane," Poo said.

"Think about it," Kim said, walking out of the building. "You could sit on the Dalaamian throne for yourself. All of your dreams about creating a more tolerant Dalaam are within your reach. All that you have to do is publicly pledge your support to our cause."

"Please," Darius said. "I understand that this is jarring for you, but think objectively. Are we really ever going to be able to fight Giygas? Don't you want Monotoli off the crystal throne?"

Darius smiled and walked out of the room. Right as he was about to close the door behind him, Poo shouted, "Wait!"

"Hmm?" Darius said, popping his head back in.

"Let me see how Kim plans to run the refugee camps," Poo said. "I'll make a decision after that."

Darius' smile widened.

"Wise choice, Prince," he said. "Let us work together to make the universe a better place."

 _Will we make the universe a better place,_ Poo thought, _Or will we just make it one that will survive the horrors to come?_

Once, Poo would have thought that there was a difference.

Now, he wasn't so sure.

 **End of Part 5**


	19. Interlude: George Lorune

**Hey, everyone. I have a final paper to write, so I'm going to keep this quick. There's a lot of info packed into this interlude. Some of it's only relevant because it shows character personality, but there are a few key plot points woven in there. Hopefully it all makes sense. :)**

 **Also, just as a reminder, the note below isn't from me. I mean, of course I wrote it, but it's a character speaking. :) And by now it should be pretty obvious who it is.**

 **See ya,**

 **Connor**

* * *

 **Note:** It was hard not to think of myself as lazy for depicting a flashback inside of a flashback, but this is the story that Lloyd, George… Whatever you want to call him, this is the story he wanted to tell. I think it's a story we should all hear, just to know how much history can distort the truth.

It also helps you see the person my sister was, for whatever that's worth.

* * *

 **1 Year Ago:**

A boy named Lloyd sat in a capsule-shaped tube filled with green liquid. The fluid came up to his shoulders, soaking his clothing and stinging his skin. Lloyd smiled. Pain was nothing new.

But then again, this wasn't really Lloyd, was it? Lloyd was a child born on the industrial planet of Vulcan, destined for a life of slave-like factory work that would eventually end in lung cancer developing in his 20s or 30s.

But he hadn't even survived that long. The boy named Lloyd had already been killed by a random thug on the streets. Nobody missed him; nobody even knew he was gone. And now a spirit was possessing him, and nobody would know the difference.

Outside of the capsule lay a laboratory with flickering lights and smashed windows. Lloyd smirked, realizing that this was probably one of the cleaner places on Vulcan. A grey-haired woman with wiry limbs looked at Lloyd from outside the capsule with a mixture of curiosity and pity.

Pity. Funny that she would feel sympathy, considering that she brought him into this child's body.

"You're awake," the woman said.

"Indeed," Lloyd said. "I've been awake for a while now. This body seems rather… diseased." Lloyd coughed. "Asthma, perhaps? Or just damaged lungs from the Vulcan air? There is not so big of a difference, I suppose."

"I would thought that you would be infuriated by this treatment, your majesty."

The woman's words ended in dry humor. Lloyd smiled; he was always game for a good joke.

"I did not like the empire's government any more than you, Minerva Carpainter," he said. "Why do you think I dissolved it 80 years ago?"

"Guilt?" Minerva asked with a shrug. "Cowardice?"

"Two forces that motivate you after dropping those bombs on Aphrodite, hmm?" Lloyd asked.

Minerva recoiled as if struck.

"Well, you're not wrong," she said. Narrowing her eyes, "You're… different than I expected."

"I'm insane," Lloyd said, rolling his eyes. "It's hard to keep up with a regal act when it matters so psyching little next to my hallucinations and delusions."

Of course, that wasn't true at all. George had _tried_ to run the empire. He really did. His only mistake was not being ready to say goodbye. But Minerva didn't know that, and she would never understand. Better to tell her what she already thought deep down.

"Really," Minerva said. "I didn't know."

"All mystics develop schizophrenia," Lloyd said with a shrug. "My advisors did a good job of hiding my insanity, and my wife ended up doing a lot of the actual governing. The system worked… for a time."

"And then you killed your wife."

"Sure. If you want to think that, go ahead."

"Are you denying it?" Minerva asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just don't care," Lloyd said. "I'm already a monster and a villain. What's one more sin on my plate?"

"Sin," Minerva said, pursing her lips. "Like some entity is judging you for it."

"Just because your father worshipped a false god doesn't mean a real one can't exist," Lloyd said.

Minerva blinked, once again taken by surprise.

"You know more than you should about who I am," she said.

"I paid attention to the realm of the living before you trapped me inside this body," Lloyd said. "That's how I was close enough for you to find me in the first place."

"Oh," Minerva said, turning away. "I am sorry for bringing you back like this. Not that I suspect my apology will mean much of anything."

"I don't really mind," Lloyd said. "What was I going to do, anyway? You should direct your sympathy towards the other poor souls in these capsules." He craned his neck to the right, spotting a blond-haired boy and a pink-haired girl fully submerged in the green liquid. "What did _they_ do to deserve this?"

"They are dangerous," Minerva said. "They know too much. It's despicable, but I need renewable energy and they're my enemies."

"Aphroditians out for blood?" Lloyd asked.

"Your accuracy is starting to get on my nerves," Minerva said, gritting her teeth. "But you may want to revise your statement about not caring until _after_ you go through the first round of treatment."

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. Moments later, the liquid started to rise.

"Torture?" Lloyd asked. "Why bring me back just to inflict pain?"

"This capsule is a device that starmen used to discover the nature of human fear," Minerva said, knocking on the capsule's glass walls. "It will be painful, but not in the way that you expect. You shall not be in danger of any physical harm."

By then, the liquid had risen over Lloyd's mouth. He craned his neck upwards so that he could get his mouth out of the water and speak.

"No physical harm?" Lloyd asked. "What about mental harm?"

The liquid rose over his eyes, stinging them in an intensity that forced his eyelids shut as a reflex. He could feel himself start to slip away from the physical world. It felt similar to his death, but somehow less final.

"That's the kicker, isn't it?" Lloyd vaguely heard Minerva say in the background.

* * *

Emperor George sat on a throne made of purple crystal. He looked out at the world of Ceres beyond the crystal walls. Buildings made of transparent crystal that glimmered red, yellow, and white shot out of the ground and pierced the skies. It was hard for George to believe that humanity had come so far.

And yet… they really had not come so far at all.

George heard a woman's voice. He frowned, unsure if it was his insanity speaking.

George's wife Mary opened the double doors to the throne room and walked in, carrying a knife at her breast while tears ran down her cheeks. George hesitated for a second time. Something this extreme could easily be a product of his insane mind.

"Mary," he said. "What's wrong?"

If this were indeed a hallucination, it wouldn't hurt to play along. He couldn't risk acting cold towards the only person who loved him.

"Do you remember when I spoke to you about Giygas?" Mary said.

"Right," George said. "Are you sure he's actually… alive?"

"Yes," Mary said. "And he _will_ wake up eventually. That's why…" Mary paused, drawing a shaky breath. "That's why I tried to take matters into my own hands."

"Oh, Mary," George said, those words entering his heart like an arrow. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?" Mary said. "I haven't even told you what happened."

"I'm sorry that you felt like you had to take on psyching _Giygas_ all by yourself. It just shows how useless I am, sitting here on this slab of crystal."

"That's not true." She walked up to George's throne and kissed him on the cheek.

"Mary," George said, smiling sadly. "You know that it's true. You've ran this empire while I sit here not knowing if anything around me is real. Even this," George ran his fingers over the cheek that Mary kissed, "Could all be fake. It's pitiful."

"It's something that you cannot control," Mary said. "You were born into this role, George. You're trying your hardest to rule the empire on your own, but it's good to recognize your own limitations. You can't face the whole universe alone."

"I also shouldn't make _you_ face the universe on your own."

"I can handle it," Mary said, grabbing George's hand. "At least… I thought I could."

Mary dropped George's hand, turning away.

"Mary?" George said, standing up. "What's wrong?"

"I wish that I could reassure you that I'm fine, that everything will be fine," Mary said. "That's all I ever wanted. But today…" Mary turned to face him, her eyes wet with tears. "That would be a lie."

"Maybe I can help," George said. "It's about time I did _something_ around here."

"It's nothing that you can help with," Mary said, hugging her arms. "You've done enough already. I'm so proud of you for managing to rule this empire and keep the peace, even if you feel stuck inside of your own mind."

"Please, Mary. Just give me a chance. I know that I've screwed up before, but things will be different this time. I can tame the voices inside of my head if I just try hard enough."

"You can't," Mary said, "And nobody expects you to. It is your curse, darling. But this isn't even about your…"

"My insanity," George said, his harsh tone causing Mary to flinch. "You can say it."

"It's not even about that," Mary said. "Nobody can help me now. Nobody can save me from myself."

"What do you mean?" George asked, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I promise I'll do everything I can."

"See, this is why I can't blame you for any of this," Mary said. "You're always so kind… and you try so psyching hard. It's what I've always admired about you. That's why it breaks my heart that we'll never see each other again."

"I must have hallucinated," George said with a nervous chuckle. "It almost sounded like you said…"

"Let me explain," Mary said. "I wanted to become strong enough to fight Giygas. I planned to summon him and defeat him once and for all. Have you ever heard of a psionic savant before?"

"I've heard whisperings," George said. "People so powerful that they live and breathe psionics. It was mentioned in the same mystical tone as dragons and modern-day dinosaurs."

"Except that unlike those, psionic savants are real," Mary said. "Anyone can become one."

George felt his eyes widen in realization.

"No," he said. "You don't mean to suggest…"

"I am a psionic savant," Mary said through gritted teeth. "At least, I am about to become one."

"How?" George asked. "Where did you discover such power?"

"I refuse to say." Mary looked George in the eyes, putting a hand on his cheek. "Nobody else must know. I've already gone too far."

"What do you mean?"

Mary sighed, biting her lip and taking a step back.

"You see," she said. "The efficiency of a savant comes with a steep price. I can hardly _care_ about anything, and once I become a savant I'll lose my feelings entirely. Even now, it's getting harder to remember why I shouldn't kill you right here."

"Well, the universe wouldn't be missing much, so I can see where you're coming from."

"George." Mary frowned.

He grimaced. "Sorry."

"I've gone too far to turn back," Mary said. "If I stay alive for another day, I'll become a psionic savant. We have to avoid that at any cost."

"So you're going to kill yourself?"

Mary shook her head.

"If I do, I think my spirit might be able to come back into this universe. I don't know for sure, but I can't take that risk."

George blinked. He was getting more and more convinced that this was a hallucination…

"That's where this knife comes in," Mary said.

George looked at the knife in her hand. It was engraved with Latin words, and it possessed a pale jewel in its hilt.

"This is Dynaldas, the knife of power," Mary explained. "It's an Osohe artifact; the Latin writing was added on later. I can use this knife to trap my spirit inside."

"Oh, psych," George said. "I didn't know my insanity was this bad."

"George," Mary said. "I'm _real._ Ugh." Mary paced back and forth. "I can see why you would think this is a hallucination. In your place, I might think so if I weren't insane."

"I hope it ends soon," George said to himself.

"It will all end soon," Mary said with a sad smile. "Please, promise me that you'll toss my body into the ocean so that nobody will ever find it again. The body of a near-savant could still be used as a superweapon, even without my spirit."

"If this turns out to be real," George said, "Then I promise."

"Thank you," Mary said, biting back more tears. "That's all I can ask for you to do."

"If this is real," George said. "What do I do? I can't run the empire without you."

"I made plans," Mary said. "Pulled strings. The empire will not exist by tomorrow."

George didn't bother to ask how. If Mary said it, then it was true. And if this were all a hallucination, then he didn't need to worry about it anyway.

"And what about our sons?" George asked.

"Just do your best with them," Mary said. "It tears me apart to leave them behind, but…" Mary took a deep breath. "I'm starting to lose the ability to care about them. This transformation into a savant is blocking all of my compassion. The only person left that I can feel for is you."

Mary pulled George in and kissed him on the lips. She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing tightly. After what felt like hours, she released him from her grip.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Are you sure about this?" George asked.

Mary looked into George's eyes and nodded.

"Yes," she said. "If I wait much longer, I'll turn into a psionic savant and I won't be able to care about anything."

Mary raised the knife Dynaldas and pointed the blade at her heart. She took a deep breath.

"Just a hallucination," George told himself. "This is too wild to be real."

Mary managed a smile through her tears. "I'm so sorry that you'll have to wake up tomorrow to a fallen empire. Promise me that you'll get rid of my body, all right?"

Before George could respond, Mary stabbed herself in the chest. She gasped but managed to press the pale jewel on the knife's hilt. The jewel started to fill up with the color red.

 _Just the workings of a mad mind,_ George said, walking up and holding her dying body in his arms. _I'll wake up tomorrow and everything will be okay._

The jewel filled up completely with the color red. Mary jerked and gasped one last time before her heart fell silent.

"Oh, Mary," George said. "What does it mean that my hallucinations involve your death? Maybe you can explain that to me in the morning."

* * *

Lloyd gasped, jerking back awake in his capsule filled with green liquid. The fluid level receded below his neck to shoulder level. Lloyd wiped the liquid off his face and regarded Minerva Carpainter, whose eyebrows were furrowed in concentration.

"How about it?" Lloyd asked. "Not quite what you expected, eh?"

"That doesn't make sense," Minerva said. "You shouldn't be able to lie with your memories. Not even by accident."

"I didn't," Lloyd said. "I never killed Mary."

Minerva's eyes narrowed. "But you confessed."

"A lot of people confess to crimes they didn't commit." Lloyd shrugged. "It was… easier to go with the flow."

Lloyd grinned at Minerva's wide-eyed reaction.

"What about your sons?"

"I would have been a bad influence on them," Lloyd said. "At least this way, one of them turned out all right."

"While the other is heading a ruthless organization that seeks to incite war."

Lloyd shrugged.

"I just can't believe that you didn't even want to live," Minerva said. "You let them psyching _execute_ you for murdering your wife when you didn't even-"

"Life would have been nothing but pain without Mary," Lloyd said. "Nobody would ever care for me like she did. Even in my moments of darkest despair, she made me feel… alive. I think it's fitting that we both left the universe at about the same time."

"I… see," Minerva said. "Well, this is disappointing."

"You want that badly to paint me as a villain?"

"In fact, I wish to see you as the opposite," Minerva said. "After our initial conversation, I thought that you were someone who ran the universe despite your own struggles with mental health. I wanted to learn your secrets. But you needed Mary, and I don't have someone like that who cares about me."

"Are you insane as well?" Lloyd asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but I'm in a position where my personal struggles make it hard to care about being a good ruler," Minerva said.

"The nuclear bomb."

Minerva grunted, which Lloyd took to be an affirmation.

"It still controls you, doesn't it?" Lloyd whispered. "You can't escape who you are, Minerva. I don't think either of us could. We each had our chance to rule the universe, but we can't even rule ourselves."

Minerva stood still for so long that Lloyd thought she hadn't heard him. Finally, she spoke up, "Perhaps I should ask your grandson Pan Lorune about how he deals with his schizophrenia."

"Hmm? I don't know much about him."

"He goes by Dr. Andonuts, these days." Minerva adopted a wry smile. "My sister told me that he locked himself up when he knew he was hallucinating. That happened to be at the same time that his wife was giving birth. She died from childbirth and his son was stillborn."

"That sounds sad, but I don't have any sympathy left inside of me," Lloyd said.

"There's more than that," Minerva said. "Dr. Andonuts rose his son from the dead. He healed the body and stuffed the dead baby's spirit back inside before it could float off. If he could do that while insane, maybe he could teach me how to conquer my own nightmares."

"And you probably stole his technology and used it to stuff _my_ spirit in this body."

"Right," Minerva said. "He's a wonderful man and I want to be more like him. I still think I have a chance to make a positive difference in this world."

"To make up for your genocide?" Lloyd asked.

"In part," Minerva said. "I've also just seen so much evil in my life that I want to turn the universe around."

"Well, that makes one of us," Lloyd said. "What are you planning to do with me now that I'm useless to you? If you kill this body again, I won't mind. It wasn't my choice to come back to life, after all."

"I'll think about it," Minerva said. "I'm just surprised that you don't hate my guts by now."

"My wife Mary was terrified about becoming a savant and losing all of her compassion," Lloyd said. "But I was the one in the end who lost the will to care. I couldn't hate you even if I wanted to, Minerva. I can't feel sadness; I can't feel pain."

"But you also can't feel love and joy."

"Indeed. I am numb to the world outside of me. Do what you will with me, Minerva Carpainter. I shall not resist."

"You make it sound like I'm about to rape you." Minerva's lips curled into a sneer. "Like I said, I'll make up my mind on what to do with you later. Goodbye for now, Emperor George Lorune."

"Likewise, President Minerva Carpaitner."

Minerva walked away. At the last moment, she turned back and looked at him over her shoulder.

"You really should have thrown Mary's body into the ocean, you know," she said.

"Why? What happened?"

Minerva shook her head and left Lloyd's field of vision. That was fine. He didn't need answers. Lloyd looked once again towards the children trapped in the tanks next to him. He tried to muster up sympathy for them and found a little spark.

Well, at least it was a start.


	20. Interlude: Minerva Carpainter

**Hey, everyone. I want to talk a little about this chapter.**

 **When I was writing this story, the Carpainter twins were two of my favorite characters (even when compared to the canon characters I was writing). Minerva in particular was enthralling to write, and it remains rather difficult to get her character right. I think what drew me to her was her contradictions. She's the most powerful person in the universe, but is one of the least secure. She's next to immortal, and yet her mental state is fragile. She's a highly intelligent and independent person, and yet she finds herself controlled by how she was raised. She's quite the pessimist, and yet she views herself as the only hope of salvation for the universe.**

 **So imagine my dismay when I found that the Minerva interlude I had written was just plain** ** _awful._**

 **I rewrote the whole thing from scratch, and I tried not to blast through info like I did with the first draft of the interlude. Details are now much more concrete to give the chapter life. I still don't think that the chapter went exactly how I wanted it to with all of Minerva's angst, but I think it's about as good as I'm going to get for now. Because I'm still not quite sure how to balance her strength and her weakness, her kindness and her genocide, her intelligence and the cult brainwashing she received as a child.**

 **Hopefully you find something noteworthy in this interlude anyway.**

* * *

 **Note:** I'm trying my hardest not to hide the truth, even when it hurts.

Especially when it hurts.

If you want to judge Minerva for this, go ahead. If you want to judge me for this, go ahead. Really, it's stupid to place my reputation at stake by keeping Minerva's memory alive.

But I will _not_ run away and betray my own values. Not again.

* * *

 **One Month Ago:**

The last thing that Minerva Carpainter remembered about death wasn't the pain. It wasn't the betrayal. It wasn't even the regret.

What she remembered right before her death was a dry voice in the back of her head laughing at her.

Minerva Carpainter, with her powers, was essentially immortal. With her perfectly honed psionic aura to deal with threats to her person and her arsenal of nuclear weapons and ectoplasmic soldiers to deal with a potential invasion from Giygas, she was the sole force keeping the universe in balance. And it was only fitting that Minerva was the keystone holding human civilization together, since she had been the one to release Giygas from his slumber in the first place.

And now she was dead. It shouldn't be possible—it _couldn't_ be possible—but it had happened. And now there was no way to stop Giygas from invading Ceres.

The world of the dead slowly zoomed into focus around Minerva. She was still in her regular body, all signs of the stomach that she had ripped out of her own gut thankfully absent. She stood in a garden with massive stone water features that resembled birdbaths. Hummingbirds flew over to red flowers near the side of a house and stuck their beaks in, their wings flapping quickly enough to create a blur. The house by the flowers was made out of unpainted birch wood, with a "Welcome" doormat and a doorbell in the shape of a dragon's head.

The sight was enough to send a chill down Minerva's spine.

 _No fucking way,_ she thought.

It was all so perfect. The gardens and house looked trimmed and polished, and most people wouldn't remember it ten minutes after walking by. But the details were _there._ The blood-red flowers with the hummingbirds, the rusting doorbell that probably squeaked when pressed, the curved pathway of white stones leading up to the door... it all pointed to one house in particular.

Despite its Ceresian design, Minerva knew that this house did not belong in Ceres. Despite the house's flowers and birds, Minerva knew that this house was placed in the middle of an industrial wasteland. Despite its tranquil aura, Minerva knew that this house was home to the deadliest family the universe had ever seen.

Minerva took a deep breath and walked along the path of white stones. As she neared the house, a pair of chickadees flew over her head and landed on a birdfeeder hanging from a tree. The plants and animals had to be fake. No such life would be tolerated in the world of the dead.

 _Is this what awaits everyone once they die?_ Minerva wondered. _Do we all have to live through old nightmares again and again?_

Minerva arrived at the door and instinctively reached for the dragon doorbell. After a moment, she pulled her hand away from the doorbell and gripped the rusted iron door handle. Minerva shoved the door open—it was unlocked as always—and stepped inside the front hallway.

She didn't bother to close the door as she walked along the red carpet in the front hallway. In the first few steps, a familiar scent washed over her. It smelled… fresh, newly washed, the opposite of most houses. Minerva looked around at the paintings on the walls and the chandelier hanging from glass chains from the ceiling, unable to find even a speck of dust.

Minerva walked to the end of the hallway and turned left into the kitchen. She looked around at the granite countertops and the old gas stove surrounded by ceramic flooring. Once again, no signs of dust. Minerva put a hand on the countertop. It was damp, meaning someone had wiped it down recently. And really, there was only one person who would have-

"I thought I told you to always shut the door behind you when you come in the house," came a voice from behind her. "You're basically inviting the robbers to come in."

Minerva whirled around, seeing a grey-haired man in a blue suit flashing a smile that didn't reach his icy eyes.

And in that moment, the very last of Minerva's doubts fled. She had concrete proof that she was actually dead, and that this was some sort of twisted afterlife. Because the man standing in front of her was her father, and Morgan had killed him by Minerva's own orders years ago.

But ghosts of the past always had a way of haunting her.

 _Mind thrust._

Minerva shoved her hand forward into the air, completing the manifestation. She waited for her father to step back and tense up, and for his aura to pulsate as his mind warded off her attack.

Instead, Mr. Carpainter kept smiling.

"Your psionics won't work here," Mr. Carpainter said, stepping into the kitchen and leaning on the counter. "So there's no need for conflict. Now that we're dead, I think we're both on the same side."

"We will _never_ be on the same side," Minerva said, taking a step back.

She heard her stomach gurgle, and forced her anxiety down. Without her psionics, Minerva was nothing. Just another scared daughter trembling at the wrath of her father.

 _No,_ she told herself. _You're not under his control. You haven't been in years._

"It's amazing how this neat and tidy house can put you on edge," Mr. Carpainter said, staring out the window at the garden in the backyard. "Surely you know it's not the house's fault that I brainwashed you and your sister, but it still haunts you. Humans associate pain with the strangest sensations."

Minerva drew a shaky breath. Even after her father's death, she couldn't bring herself to her old house, _this_ house. It was always so easy to run away from her problems, and as the years passed her mental state only grew more fragile. She simply couldn't afford to reopen old wounds.

"I could show you around your old room, if you'd like," Mr. Carpainter said. "I created this entire house just for you, Minerva."

 _Okay, Min. Keep a cool head. His psionics don't work here either._

"What do you mean by 'created'?" Minerva asked.

Mr. Carpainter smiled. "I brought this house to life in this realm. I'm not part of the illusion, my daughter. This is _me._ "

"How did you know where I would appear when I died? Is it some sort of special… spirit shit that's obvious to you and should be obvious to me?"

"I knew exactly where you would go once you died," Mr. Carpainter said, "Because you and your sister have an afterlife specially made just for the two of you."

Oh _fuck._ Even with her years in politics, she barely managed to hide her panic.

"You didn't think that you would go into the afterlife with the _humans,_ did you?" Mr. Carpainter said. "Surely you know who you are."

Minerva nodded. "And the only person who knew besides me and Diana is dead."

"Ah, yes. I was actually impressed with how Morgan was able to kill me, and even more impressed with how she was able to kill _you_ in the exact same way. How's that for poetic justice?"

"Justice is meaningless, poetic or no," Minerva said. "I deserve to burn in the hell that you always preached about. That would be justice. But I _needed_ to stay alive for this universe to have a chance. And now…"

"Don't kid yourself. You're still nothing more than an ant to Giygas."

The way her father said the words so casually hit Minerva like a slap in the face.

"Still," Mr. Carpainter said, "I think that creating you and Diana was the right choice. Combined, you've done more damage to the human race than I could have ever hoped to."

Minerva clenched her fists. "Was that your plan, father? Corrupt us and wait for us to tear the humans apart ourselves?"

"You still don't know anything about me, Minerva. You might think you do, but you have no _idea_ what my plans are or what I want."

Mr. Carpainter's gaze locked onto Minerva. His eyes narrowed. But when she looked at his expression, she couldn't look past his empty eyes.

"I do know," Minerva said, "That it is an awfully _human_ trait to feel superior by withholding secrets. You're getting better."

"You think this is an _act?_ " Mr. Carpainter sneered at Minerva. "For once, I'm showing you who I really am. You humans aren't the only ones to feel emotions, you know."

Minerva frowned. This had to be another one of her father's games. But Divine Rulers, he was getting better and better at this.

"I never understood why you and your sister were so _ungrateful,_ " Mr. Carpainter said. "Compared to what most children on Vulcan got, you lived in a fucking paradise."

The worst part was that he wasn't entirely wrong. Most children on Vulcan, if they even survived past infancy, worked in the factories for a fraction of a living wage. Accidents ran rampant. Minerva knew that some factories didn't bother to clean up the blood from children who got caught in the cranking gears. And because of those kinds of practices, disease was always an issue. And most people couldn't work when sick, so when they lost the income to afford food the starvation killed them before the infection did.

Compared to that, Mr. Carpainter's cult seemed moderate. Sure, he demanded absolute obedience and killed his own followers on a whim, but there was always food on the table and he upheld standards of sanitation that virtually eradicated pestilence. But in the end, the reason people stayed in his cult was because he gave them purpose. Sure, their purpose might have been killing innocent people in the name of God, but at least it was more than working in the factories to give Ceresians slightly cheaper goods.

That was what the people in Ceres would never understand. Minerva had tried to explain to them again and again that _because_ of Ceresian exploitation, the people of Vulcan had nothing. No security, not enough food, and most importantly no hope. The people who lived in her father's cult legitimately led better lives than most of the people on the planet.

And of course, Minerva wasn't blameless either. She had led a military campaign against Boras Lorune, who only wanted to bring peace and prosperity to the people of Vulcan. But she couldn't have just sat by and let violence spread across the planet.

"But maybe being ungrateful a human thing," Mr. Carpainter said. "None of you have any perspective."

"I think some of us have perspective, and we're just afraid to resist. Because the larger perspective is that you are a literal _fucking monster._ And some people who knew that still followed you because of the fear you had instilled in them."

While Minerva was talking, her mind drifted over to one person in particular.

Mr. Carpainter frowned. "Your sister. You still look up to Diana, even though she killed thousands of people by my command. I don't understand it."

Minerva took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of her father's cologne. During all of her sleepless nights, her thoughts would wander and she would imagine meeting her father face to face one last time. She spent hours upon hours going over what she would say to him, how she would finally explain to his face _exactly_ what he had done. Now she had the chance, and Minerva wouldn't let it go to waste.

"I always knew that I was a hell-spawned child," Minerva said. "Your condescending 'you'll never be good enough' gazes were unnecessary. I always knew _exactly_ who I was. I would lash out at people I loved. They would come to me with their problems and I wanted to tell them to _shut the fuck up and go away._ I don't even mind that you tried to brainwash me. I was probably doomed anyway. But do you know who wasn't? Do you know who actually had a _fucking life_ that they deserved to live? Diana."

"You're twins. The two of you are genetically identica-"

"We are _not_ the fucking same." Minerva stared into her father's eyes, daring him to challenge her. "And you, for once in your goddamn _fucking_ life, will shut the hell up and listen to what I have to say for once."

Mr. Carpainter cocked his head, as if considering her order as a mere suggestion. After a moment, he shrugged and gestured for her to continue.

The message was clear. He was merely _letting_ her speak. Minerva Carpainter didn't have that right on her own. She _never_ had that right.

"Diana was always such a sweet child," Minerva said, ignoring her father's gesture. "She was the best sister I could have hoped for. When I scraped my leg, she would run over with worry written all over her precious face and heal me with her psionics. Never mind that I would always sigh and get all bitchy when Diana needed something from me. She was always ready to help, and she lived for the smiles on other people's faces. Everyone in our town adored her because she was always willing to lend some helpful muscle whenever they wanted something.

"You should have known this already, father. You should have been _proud_ that at least one of your daughters turned out to be such a wonderful person. But instead, you wove her around your finger and tried to beat the spirit out of her. Do you think that she _liked_ killing people, father?"

"It doesn't matter whether or not she liked it," Mr. Carpainter said. "I got her to kill the targets and spread my reign of terror. If those are the actions of a good person, then I'm surprised you ever left my cult."

"She just wanted to make you happy," Minerva said. "She just wanted to be daddy's perfect girl so that we could all smile together like one big happy family. Every time you got mad, she blamed it on herself. She always thought that if she was a good enough cultist, if she killed enough people for you, then you would be happy and all of the murdering would _stop._ "

"Then she is far stupider than I ever imagined," Mr. Carpainter said. "Do you know for certain that this is true?"

"I can read minds, father. When I finally looked inside of my sister's, it was decades too late to do anything. I saw even then that a part of her still thought she could change the cult from the inside. She knew that it was foolish, of course—she never had a chance of making you happy—but she wished for peace of love all the same. You took advantage of her kindness. Because every time you told her to kill or intimidate someone for the cult, she told herself it would be the last time."

Mr. Carpainter shrugged. "Not really my fault."

"She told herself that once she killed her target, you would finally be content and we could finally just be a normal, happy family who didn't slaughter people. Every. Damn. _Time._ "

"Hmm." Mr. Carpainter flashed a thin smile. "I'm actually quite glad that you have compassion for your sister, Minerva. Her plight _could_ garner some sympathy, I suppose. In fact, that's part of why I'm not done with her."

The words sent a chill down Minerva's spine.

"You're fucking _dead._ You couldn't keep manipulating her if you-"

Mr. Carpainter waved a hand dismissively. "Haven't you heard of ghosts, Minerva?"

Minerva frowned. "Heard that they're not real. Our race does learn, you know."

"Then you had better start learning how real ghosts can be. But don't worry; I only want the best for my sweet daughter. Well, at least my _other_ one."

Minerva ignored the jibe. "I don't know what you're trying to do, father, but I've had your number for years now. Don't think that I'll just let you cripple Vulcan for a second time."

"Ah, you give me too much credit." Mr. Carpainter grinned. "After all, you were the one who released Giygas and bombed an entire planet into oblivion. You did more damage to your race then I could ever hope to."

"And that's why I'm trying to make things right."

Minerva walked forward, reaching out towards her father. To her surprise, she felt the familiar touch of human skin when her fingers grazed by his neck.

"You're… real," she said.

"In this realm, I am."

Minerva gripped her father's neck, wrapping her fingers around his throat. Apollo Carpainter only smiled as Minerva's fingers dug deeper and deeper into his flesh.

 _"We don't need air to speak here, Minerva. I was merely using my vocal cords as a formality."_

Minerva's grip tightened.

 _"And surely you know that you cannot kill someone who is already dead."_

"You are _not_ going to touch my sister," Minerva said.

 _"Like I said, we're actually on the same side here. I think Diana will be happy if she ends up where I want her."_

"If you think I'm fucking _stupid_ enough to fall for your lies one more time…"

 _"Just like Diana was?"_

"Shut the _fuck_ up."

While Minerva was strangling her father with her left hand, she slammed her right palm into his face. Unfortunately, there was no satisfying _crunch_ of breaking bones, nor was there any blood. Her father's face remained, disappointingly, the exact same as before.

 _"You know that you can't use force to break me the same way I broke you and Diana."_

Minerva paused for a moment, and then realized exactly what was happening. She snarled and shoved her father away, releasing him from her grip.

"I…" Minerva couldn't help but laugh. "I can't bend you, can I? I thought that if I could just make you feel the same fear you instilled in us, you would finally understand…"

"Oh, I understand all too well," Mr. Carpainter said, his neck unbruised from Minerva's manhandling. "I know what it's like to realize that you've been betrayed by the only person you trusted, and that the betrayal lies deeper than you could have ever predicted. I wasn't lying when I said that we're on the same side, Minerva."

Minerva snorted. This man—no—this _creature_ worked for Giygas. They could never be on the same side.

"You don't honestly think that you can beat Giygas, do you?" Mr. Carpainter said. "Don't be stupid. Our only hope is to come to an accord with him."

"Don't you think Diana tried? She believed in peace even when everyone else had given up hope."

And her father wanted to continue messing with Diana. Minerva wanted to reach out and keep strangling him, and only barely managed to restrain herself.

"Giygas, like you and me, was betrayed. Corrupted. We cannot defeat him. The mystics agree on this."

Minerva let out a low growl. She _had_ consulted mystics about the matter, and all of them had agreed that Giygas could not be stopped. But mystics could be wrong.

"Yes, I know that even mystics cannot predict the movement of quantum particles and therefore cannot truly know the future," Mr. Carpainter said, "But _come on._ Giygas is more powerful than either of us could ever hope to be, and you put most of these humans to shame."

"I'm not going to give up."

A dry voice in the back of Minerva's head laughed at her. To give up would mean that all of her sacrifices—the war on Vulcan, the conflict in Scaraba—would have kept the human race unified for nothing. She had gone to bed every night hating herself for what she had to do to protect the universe from Giygas, and to learn that her every action had been pointless… Minerva couldn't accept that.

"I'm not giving up either," Mr. Carpainter said. "My mystic associate believes that the key to getting through to Giygas lies in a boy named Ness, and I'm actually inclined to believe him. So long as Ness stays safe, we might have a chance."

Ness? As in… Ana's boyfriend? Minerva had never seen him as anything more than a tool she could use to gain leverage over Ana. So the fact that Ness could _do_ anything at all came as somewhat of a shock.

"And if Ness dies?"

Mr. Carpainter shrugged. "We're fucked."

Minerva really shouldn't take her father's words so seriously. This was just another plan, another attempt to keep her under his wing.

"I think I've heard enough," Minerva said. "How do I leave this place?"

"Leave?" Mr. Carpainter laughed. "Minerva, this house is a special realm just for you. You can't _leave._ "

"What do you mean?" Minerva kept the question ambiguous on purpose.

"You know why you're not with the humans. Beyond the reach of what I have created is the natural emptiness of the spirit world. But you will find no solace there."

A chill ran down Minerva's spine.

"Of course, your sister will join you here when she dies." Mr. Carpainter cocked his head. "I'm sure you know just what I am."

"I want to see it with my own eyes," Minerva said.

Minerva's father looked at her, for once studying _her_ rather than using his gaze as a weapon to pin her in place. After a moment, he sighed. Minerva didn't think she had ever seen him sigh before. Mr. Apollo Carpainter was always stiff, and never bent. He had no room for mistakes, no room for compromises, and no room for regrets.

At least, until now.

"Very well," Mr. Carpainter said. "I guess you deserve that much."

The next moment, Mr. Carpainter was replaced by an even stiffer creature, a silver-skinned starman with spikes on its shoulders and head.

And that was the sick irony of Mr. Carpainter's cult. He had preached that starmen were masquerading as humans, that the starmen were infiltrating human ranks, stealing human jobs and lives. And of course, it was every good human's duty to turn in people who were acting strangely, because they could be potential starmen in disguise. Each one of them was given a trial, and all of them were found guilty.

But the only starman truly masquerading as a human was Mr. Carpainter himself.

"Giygas calls you Starman DX, right?" Minerva said.

 _"That is true."_ Mr. Carpainter's telepathic starman voice was completely monotone. _"Although it is somewhat of a misnomer. I'm not really on the same level as a starman. Those tools can't learn how to act like humans."_

"Who was my mother?" Minerva asked. "You never told me."

The starman morphed back into Mr. Carpainter's human form, with the same grey hair and blue suit. Mr. Carpainter cocked his head.

"You never asked," he said.

Of course she hadn't asked when Mr. Carpainter had spent Minerva's entire childhood telling her how normal and lucky they were. It was only now that she was realizing just how much her father had gotten away with when raising Minerva and Diana.

"Just tell me," Minerva said.

"What do you want? A name?"

"I want to know who she was."

"She was a human. I didn't care much more than that." Mr. Carpainter shrugged. "I killed her after she birthed you and your sister, of course. Couldn't afford to let a _human_ raise my children. Not when you were going to be my secret weapons against the human race. And in a way, I succeeded. I always thought it would be Diana, but _you_ were the one who crippled the universe."

"This isn't about me," Minerva said, keeping her face neutral. "Who was my mother?"

"Her genes are a part of you." Mr. Carpainter cocked his head. "It was difficult to match her DNA with my own coding, but the result was magnificent. You do know that you can never forget your true body, right?"

Minerva growled. Diana had told Minerva that she could always find her way back to her own body no matter how many times or how long she had been transformed. But Diana hadn't known then what her true body truly looked like.

"I can break the spell," Mr. Carpainter said. "I can show you who you really are. You've never seen it yourself, have you?"

"I've seen Diana. I looked inside her mind while she was in that… form, and it's not something I ever want to experience."

"You should never run away from who you are, Minerva." Mr. Carpainter's voice was uncharacteristically soft.

"I was a politician, father. Running away from problems was all that I could ever do."

"Sooner or later, you have to face who you are. Everything I've done to you in the past was for my own benefit, but please believe me when I say that I'm doing this for you."

Minerva took a step back. Maybe her father was bluffing, but she had no power to stop him here in the realm of the dead. She needed to find a way out, before-

Minerva's fingers started to morph and turn a smooth, metallic grey. The grey skin spread down her hand all the way to her wrist. Her fingers were thin and floppy like tentacles, flowing back and forth through the air without her command.

A hand was a human body feature, but the grey, metallic skin and tentacle-like nature of her fingers belonged to a starman.

This was who Minerva Carpainter truly was. Half human, half starman, all freak.

And Minerva's newly transformed hand felt _cold_ in a way that she had never experienced before. She had read up on phantom limb syndrome when Diana had told her about the sensation, and decided right then that having a phantom limb probably didn't feel much different from having a starman hand. Sure, her limb was where it should have been, but inside of her own hand was an abyss devoid of emotion, and when Minerva tried to dive inside and feel deeper within her own palm the depths only grew colder and colder.

And then… emptiness. There _was_ no hand there, just a lifeless protrusion from her wrist.

"Stop!" Minerva said. "Please."

Mr. Carpainter frowned. "It will feel better once the transformation is complete."

No. Please oh fucking _god_ no. She couldn't deal with her whole body feeling this cold, this empty. Mr. Carpainter raised his hand, and the grey skin crept down Minerva's arm.

"Did you really think I was powerless just like you?" Mr. Carpainter said. "The spirit world is where starmen are the strongest."

 _The spirit world is where starmen are the strongest…_

Minerva was part starman now.

"I told you to fucking STOP!" Minerva shoved her grey hand forward and shot a blast of fire at her father.

The flames washed over Mr. Carpainter and ignited the wooden walls of the house. Mr. Carpainter raised his hand again, and Minerva shot another fire blast.

"You're going to burn this house down if you resist," Mr. Carpaitner said.

"Good." Minerva looked him in the eyes and shot another fire blast. "I want you to burn with me."

The fire started to spread to the ceiling, and through the flames and smoke a burning plank fell down between Minerva and Mr. Carpainter. Minerva's father put up a psychic force field around him, which blocked subsequent falling planks.

"I… can leave, if you want," Mr. Carpainter said.

 _I did it,_ Minerva thought, looking into her father's uncertain eyes. _I finally fucking did it. He sees me as a threat, so he's willing to respect me._

Respect. It was something Minerva had hardly received from anyone, and it was probably something she didn't deserve. But _damn_ did it feel good.

"Yes," Minerva said. "Get the _fuck_ out."

"Helen," Mr. Carpainter said.

"What the fuck are you blabbing about now?"

Through the smoke, Mr. Carpainter looked Diana in the eye. "That was your mother's name. Helen. I thought you should know."

Minerva growled "Get out."

Mr. Carpainter shrugged and teleported away.

Minerva didn't even bother running out of the burning house. What more could a little fire do to her when she was already dead? So Minerva Carpainter, a grown woman of forty-two, former President of Ceres, sat down, hugged her knees, and started crying.

Through her tears, through the flames and the smoke, through the icy depths of her transformed hand, her true self, she held onto one word. It was a word that she had never known, but it was a word that she had always needed.

Helen.


	21. Interlude: Kumatora

**Note:** the drafts for all the following chapters are old. I've done my best to brush them up, but if they don't seem like my more recent stuff that's why.

* * *

 **3000 Years ago:**

Kuma Tora Vin Entaire walked through a fortress made of stained glass. She looked down hundreds of stories below and made out the ground below with all of its buildings that sparkled like gems on the plain of green grass.

"Hey, Kuma!" came a shout from behind her. A boy wearing orange and purple ran up to her, taking a moment to catch his breath. "I was told that you were leaving."

Kumatora could make out the tears in his eyes. Probably thinking about who else would sculpt rainbow clay with him in the meantime.

"It's just for a little while, Larn," Kuma said. "Well, I don't know that for sure, but I don't think that my mother would call me for something that would mean I have to leave you forever."

"Don't you see, Kuma?" Larn asked. "Your mother _never_ calls people unless it's important." Larn smiled. "Whatever it is, I hope you like it."

"Please," Kumatora said. "Don't act like this is already a goodbye. I'm just meeting with my mother."

Larn ran up and flung his arms around her, closing his eyes and grimacing.

"Goodbye," he said.

"What, are _you_ leaving Faldin?" Kumatora asked.

"Everyone's going to leave Faldin soon." Larn sniffled.

"No," Kumatora said. "My mother will think of something. There's no way in psych that Giygas can beat us. We're the Osohe, after all. We killed most of his kind, so we'll make sure to think of an extra-special plan for him. So please, stand up a little taller. We won't be subdued."

Larn took Kumatora's request literally, eliminating all semblances of slouching from his posture and gaining a few inches. His head still only made it up to the base of Kumatora's neck.

"You promise, Kuma?" he asked.

"I promise," she said. "And we'll see each other again soon. Let those tears flow, Larn. Drain your body of sorrow now so that we can both be happy when we see each other again."

Larn sniffled and nodded, hopefully recognizing the wisdom in the age-old Osohe attitude. He let go of her, turning around and running away. Kumatora smiled even though she knew that he couldn't see. Did that boy ever _walk_ anywhere?

 _That wasn't a goodbye,_ Kumatora reminded herself. _Psych, I might see him again today._

Still, she let a tear run down each of her cheeks. Even if the reasons for her sorrow were silly, it would be sillier still to deny the sorrow and leave it to fester.

* * *

Kumatora walked into the throne room, complete with a sky-high dome that allowed for trees and flowers to be placed all around the room. Each of the walls and floors comprised a stained glass art piece that pictured some aspect of the queen: Kumatora spotted images of fire sprouting from her hands, warding off the Ancients.

Kumatora thought of this place as a throne room, but to her knowledge Queen Lorraine didn't have a throne. One of the Magypsies had told Kuma that the queen spent most of her day standing up, wandering around the garden inside of her throne room. When she did have to sit, she took a seat on a chair near the edge of the room just like anyone else would. No guards stood inside of the room; the entire Osohe race knew just how little the queen needed them.

Kumatora spotted her mother talking with the Magypsy Locria. Upon spotting her, both of them turned to face Kumatora with a smile.

"There's my favorite Osohe princess!" Locria said.

"I'm the _only_ Osohe princess," Kumatora said, rolling her eyes.

"Still counts." Locria winked.

"Ah, my daughter," Queen Lorraine said, walking up and embracing Kumatora in a hug. "It is so nice to see you."

"Yeah," Kumatora mumbled. "It's nice to see you too."

"How have you been doing?" Lorraine asked. "The regular kids are treating you well, right?"

Right. Because Kumatora was "special."

"Yeah," Kumatora said. "I mean, I sometimes get into fights with my friends, but that's normal."

"Which friends?" Lorraine asked.

"I'm not telling you," Kumatora said. "If I have a problem, I'll deal with it myself."

Lorraine smiled, although Kumatora detected unease behind it.

"Princess," Fassad said. "I assume that you've heard the rumors about Giygas?"

Kumatora nodded.

"Another Ancient," she said. "Another being that helped create the physical universe. I doubted that you would have let one slip the first time, but judging by your expressions…" Kumatora paused. "It's all true, isn't it?"

"Giygas is real, yes," Lorraine said. "Although for a different reason than you might suspect."

"You know how Ancients mostly exist in the psionic realm, yes?" Locria said. "They are more spirits than bodies."

"You don't have to use baby terms around me," Kumatora said. "Let me guess: when we blasted their spirits to smithereens, we didn't understand something about them or the psionic realm that's coming back to bite us in the ass."

Lorraine and Locria exchanged a glance.

"Death in the psionic realm is obscure," Lorraine said, "So we didn't really understand it."

"Think about it," Locria said. "Your physical body can stop functioning, but you don't expect your cognitive spirit to eventually run out of steam, do you? And that's because in most cases, it doesn't. We did something unprecedented by killing the Ancients who sought our destruction. Sprits don't usually flop over and die like that."

"So," Kumatora said. "What was your mistake?"

"The psionic realm works in a fundamentally different way than the physical realm does," Lorriane said. "In our world, death makes matter and energy disperse. The universe comes closer to equilibrium."

"Basically," Locria said. "Everything gets more spread out."

 _I thought I said that I didn't need baby words, Locria,_ Kumatora thought.

"It's not that way in the psionic realm?" Kumatora asked.

"On the contrary," Lorraine said. "While our universe tends towards chaos, theirs tends towards order. Death just makes them compact more and more; it makes them _gather_ more stuff instead of releasing it."

"So?" Kumatora asked.

"They gathered _each other,_ " Lorraine said. "Giygas isn't just a new Ancient. He's the sum of all Ancients we've ever killed."

"But if they were all dead when they clumped together," Kumatora said. "Why is he alive?"

"We're not sure," Locria said, "But we're hesitant to try and kill him a second time. Not that we could even if we really wanted to."

"How did you kill the Ancients the first time?" Kumatora asked. "Can't you just do that again?"

"It won't work," Lorraine said. "I'm not about to give away such a dangerous secret, but I _will_ say that it required the element of surprise." She sighed. "Surprise which I can never hope to recreate a second time."

"So that's it?" Kumatora asked. "We, the mighty Osohe, have no way to stop some stupid alien from conquering us?"

"Basically," Locria said.

"Unfortunately," Lorraine said.

"I can't _believe_ this," Kumatora said, pounding a fist on the lotus tree behind her. "Didn't you say that we would never stand down to the Ancients, mother?"

"Times have changed," Lorraine said. "Why fight if there is no chance of victory? Shall I create more needless destruction?"

"We're the Osohe," Kumatora said. "We're the agents of chaos. Throw us in there; we'll fight Giygas and his starmen. He won't be able to predict us if we act randomly."

"He will still defeat us," Lorraine said.

"Only if we let him," Kumatora said. "As the Osohe saying goes, 'Everything fades eventually.' Even Giygas' days are numbered, mother. It means more to us to fight for our home and our people than it does to sit back and wait for the end to come."

"Oh, since when did 'I' become 'we'?" Lorraine asked. "You speak for yourself only, Kuma Tora Vin Entaire."

"Oh, really?" Kumatora asked. "Because I could call up a dozen witnesses to agree with me."

"A dozen out of what?" Lorraine said. "I understand what my people want, Kuma. _I_ am the queen here, not you."

Kumatora narrowed her eyes. Was that desperation she heard in her mother's voice?

"Please forgive the queen," Locria said. "She's had a long day. She does not mean to imply that her title drowns all else out; she simply has more experience with listening to the Osohe than you do."

"Fine," Kumatora said. "I'm still waiting to hear the part where this involves me."

"Your father and I decided to send you away," Lorraine said. "We want you to be safe, dear, and I don't know if any of us will survive Giygas' wrath."

"Then I'll die with you," Kumatora said. "If you can send someone away, let someone who wants it have the opportunity."

"Kuma," Lorraine said. "You've been alive for what, a few decades? You're not a human, dear. We Osohe are supposed to live for centuries, and we can't squander those unspent years."

"A few decades and still a child," Kumatora said. "Just like any other Osohe. You're right; I'm not like a human. If I were a 34 year-old human, I would be treated as an adult. But since I'm an Osohe and you've all been around since the dawn of time…" Kumatora spat on the dirt next to the lotus tree. "It means that I'm not allowed to make my own decisions."

"Oh, Kuma," Lorraine said. "You know it's not like that."

"Really?" Kumatora said. "Because I don't think that you even got my father's permission for this. He would have talked to me before handing me his decision."

"Your father is quite busy," Lorraine said. "Please just listen to me. We may not always know what's best for you, but this time we just want to keep you safe. Look."

Kumatora followed Lorraine over to a machine that looked like a Mr. Saturn.

"Boing!" a Mr. Saturn said, walking up to Lorraine and Kuma. "Machine finished, zoom!"

"This is called the Phase Distorter," Lorraine said. "It will send you to the future."

"Use it on people who want to leave," Kumatora said. "I'm staying."

"You will eventually obey the queen," Locria said, walking up. "It doesn't matter who you are or what you want. The queen dictates the rules for all of us."

"A ruler who abuses their power is not fit to rule," Kumatora said.

"You call this _abuse?_ " Lorraine said. "I'm protecting you from Giygas. I can't make you trust me, but I _will_ make you obey."

"Because I'm too stupid to see that this is for my own good, right?" Kumatora said with a sneer. "No, I think the issue lies the other way. There's something fishy about this, mother. Why save me with this machine yet talk not at all about saving anyone else? If this machine truly allowed me to travel through time, wouldn't you want to escape with our entire race?"

Lorraine stood still. Kumatora could see her mind working to come up with an answer.

"Just tell me the truth!" Kumatora said.

Lorraine didn't respond for several moments.

"It is dangerous to tell you too much," Lorraine said. "But if you insist…"

Lorraine pulled a knife out of her pocket. A pale jewel in the knife's hilt caught Kumatora's eye.

"No!" Kumatora said, backing away. "You're…" _Turning on me?_

But instead of attacking Kumatora, Lorraine rammed the knife into Locria's side. Locria gasped and struggled to free himself, but Lorraine restrained him while pressing on the pale jewel in the knife's hilt. The jewel filled up with a bright yellow and Locria collapsed to the ground.

"That man was a double agent for Giygas," Lorraine said, wiping the blood off of the knife. "Do not feel sympathy for him."

"That knife," Kumatora said. "I can feel the aura coming from it." She gasped. "You didn't just kill him. You trapped his psionic spirit inside!"

Lorraine chuckled, shaking her head.

"You've always been too smart for your own good," she said. "You're right. This way, he will not report back to Giygas with what I have to tell you."

"No," Kumatora said. "You said… that the Osohe never killed each other. Never ever. We always talk things out first."

"He is not an Osohe," Lorriane said. "I created the Magypsies as tools, and this one turned on me. He was lucky that I kept him around for as long as I did. Besides, I haven't killed him yet. Empty bodies can house new spirits and return to life."

Lorriane muttered something and Locria's body vanished.

"There," she said. " _Now_ you can complain about how I killed him."

"Is this why I haven't seen my father in months?" Kumatora asked. "Did you kill him, too?"

"Silence!" Lorraine shouted, her eyes alight with anger. "You will _not_ accuse me of murdering my husband."

Lorraine emitted a force wave, sending Kumatora stumbling backwards.

"I will tell you why I am sending you away," Lorraine said, "But it is not because you _deserve_ to know."

Kumatora growled.

"Let me begin," Lorraine said. "Do you know how Osohe children are made?"

"Not through sexual reproduction," Kumatora said. "You mentioned that once. And given that we're not clones of one of our parents, I'd say that takes asexual reproduction out of the picture as well."

"Leaving not many choices left, yes?" Lorraine said. "I shaped the entire Osohe race by myself, remember? You were my first creation."

"So that's why I'm the oldest of all the children?"

"Exactly. Now, the grown-up Osohe that I created came into this world as adults. But you were my first experiment, and my methods were a tad more… transparent than I had hoped for."

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"It was so transparent," Lorraine said, "That if anyone gets their hands on your code, they can switch it up a little to create different organisms on their own. With the others, I made it so that the DNA would fall apart if someone tried to mess with it. Coded within your genes is the process for creation without reproduction, so I tried to keep it hidden away."

"I get it," Kumatora said. "You're sending me away because you're scared of Giygas capturing me and gaining the key to create any life form that he wants."

"Exactly," Lorraine said. "The phase distorter doesn't have the power to save everyone, so we must preserve the person who would allow him to create an army on his own. No matter what, you cannot let yourself fall into his hands. Even if the Osohe go down, you must survive."

"So why not kill me and disintegrate my body?" Kumatora asked. "Wouldn't that be safer?"

"I can't bring myself to kill my own daughter. Besides, your father would never forgive me."

Kumatora looked into her mother's eyes and found sincerity. Was this the _real_ Lorraine that hid beneath a regal exterior?

"And nobody can know about this, right?" Kumatora said.

"I'll erase everyone else's memories of you," Lorraine said. "It's the only way to make sure that Giygas doesn't hunt you down."

Kumatora's heart lurched. She would never see Larn again _and_ the boy wouldn't even remember her? She looked towards the round, metal machine in front of her.

"And I just use this?" Kumatora said.

"Boing!" the nearby Mr. Saturn said. "Yes. Use Phase Distorter, zoom!"

Oh. Had that funny little creature been there the entire time? Kumatora shot a nervous glance at her mother.

"I won't hurt the Mr. Saturn," Lorraine said. "I'm not even sure if he's aware of the world around him. If I order him not to tell, he'll obey."

"Dakota," the Mr. Saturn said.

Kumatora gulped and nodded.

"I know that you'll force me to comply even if I don't want to," Kumatora said. "And I don't want to see that part of you again. So I guess I won't resist." _For now._

She walked up to the Phase Distorter and put her hand on it. Kumatora closed her eyes and reached out with her psionic powers.

 _"This entry has been programmed by Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire to send you three thousand years into the future. Is this acceptable?"_

 _"Yes," Kumatora transmitted with her telepathy psionics._

 _"Please enter the password."_

Kumatora turned to her mother.

"You weren't planning on saying goodbye to me before you left?" Lorraine asked.

"After you go on and on about how I don't _deserve_ to know this and that, it's a little hard for me to care about you," Kumatora said.

"Oh, Kuma," Lorraine said. "I wish that I could have spent more time making things right between us."

"It's fine, mother," Kumatora said. "You have a kingdom to run. Just tell me the password."

"It's LOVE," she said.

"Your initials." Kumatora smirked. "You need a better password than _that._ "

"It holds sentimental value for me," she said.

Kumatora nodded. She didn't really understand this part of her mother, and she reminded herself that she really didn't care since they would likely never meet again after today.

"There's nothing left that you want to do or say?" Lorraine asked.

"Good luck fighting Giygas," Kumatora said. "Please don't give in. And… goodbye."

She turned to face the Phase Distorter.

 _"The password is LOVE,"_ she transmitted.

 _"Correct. Initializing time travel…"_

The world started to fade around Kumatora, just like it would if she were teleporting. Lorraine waved goodbye, and Kumatora managed a single wave back before she was thrust into a coldness that cut off her scream.

* * *

 **Lotus trees:** a reference to plants on Aphrodite, these trees have rings of eight branches that make them resemble a lotus. Out of place with other "chaotic" Osohe decorations

 **Queen Lorraine:** Queen of the Osohe. Poo thought that Kumatora was this person back in part one of this fic because the resemblance they share. She is also an Ancient, a being that existed before the Big Bang and helped create the universe. An overall enigma.

 **LOVE:** The signature of a mysterious being sending Jeff messages through a portocom (like facetime but with a hand mirror instead of a phone lol) who has connections to the Shard of Ceres (place with vast amounts of knowledge hidden). By the end of this chapter, it is implied that Lorraine is the one sending these messages to Jeff and has some connection to the Shard of Ceres

 **Locria:** Fassad from Mother 3. He also played a role in the main story, via...

 **Lorraine's Knife:** This is one of the three knives that make up the Sword of Kings, and each of the knives can store a person's spirit in it and draw on spirit energy for great power. When the Sword of Kings as impaled into Queen Mary's body, the three people's spirits stored in the knives (Fassad, Hinawa, and Mary herself) entered Mary's Magicant, along with Starman Jenny (who was previously controlling Mary's spirit-less body)

 **Osohe:** In Mother 3 they were a long lost race of people, but since we're in space in this fic they're aliens who Giygas destroyed 3000 years ago. They resemble humans and Lorraine created them based off of humans since she saw classic civilizations on Earth with potential.

 **Phase Distorter:** Same as in Earthbound, where here it transports Kumatora to the future. It was later found by Dr. Andonuts and has a few additional uses compared to what we see in Earthbound.

 **Mr. Saturn:** This is a more serious setting for an Earthbound fic, so these aliens are technically called "Aphrodes" in the story, and are aliens previously found on Aphrodite (before it was bombed into a nuclear winter, anyway). But the Osohe realistically speak a different language than the humans so I translated it to "Mr. Saturn," which is more recognizable. Boing!

Phew this fic is complicated.

 **Review Responses: Guest (who reviewed in February):** Haha here I am several months later! *Awkward smile*

 **Guest (who reviewed in May):** Phew I wasn't in a great place when you reviewed but I'm getting back in the groove! Thank you so much for your kind words. :) I'll do my best to finish this story. I wasn't planning on continuing at all before I saw this, so thank you for giving me motivation to get back into it!


	22. Chapter 18: Funeral

**Part 6: Planet of Strife**

 **Fragmented Memories: Lyon, 2920 B. F.**

* * *

 _Greetings, whoever is picking up on my signals. My name is Lyon. I'm sure that Lorraine's reputation drowns out any mention of my name._

 _I was the King of the Osohe._

 _But now…_

* * *

Ana Aniah couldn't even cry.

That's why she was here, sitting under a tree next to Ness' house away from the funeral procession, hugging her knees. Closing her eyes and remembering his body lying on the dusty ground.

When Lucas stabbed him, had he screamed?

And then she saw herself from above, swinging an axe made out of glassy ectoplasm at the people she had laughed with and called friends.

 _Divine Rulers, why can't our situations have been reversed?_

Ana was surprised at how badly she wanted to be the one dead instead of Ness. Did she really hate life that much?

But that would have been cowardly, wouldn't it? To wish that the person she loved was suffering instead of her?

"I know that my words can't mean much, but I'm sorry about what happened."

Ana opened her eyes to see Mr. Agerate wearing purple psion's robes. He offered her a hand and after Ana grabbed it he hoisted her up to her feet.

"I haven't seen you in a lifetime, Mr. Agerate," Ana said.

"Nobody else is around, right?"

"Why? Are you planning to kidnap me or something?"

"It's Diana."

"Diana? Where… Oh." Ana leaned away from Agerate.

"Do you want to know why I became a teacher and disguised myself, Ana?"

"I'm not sure that I really care."

"My only reason for living was for others." The corners of his mouth twitched slightly upwards. "I was already so hopelessly _fucked_ beyond repair that I couldn't put all my pieces back together, so I tried to patch up the world around me. Sound familiar?"

Ana narrowed her eyes.

"But when my students got themselves hurt, it would eat me up on the inside. I lived for them, so I wanted them to have perfect lives. And that's not a fair expectation, Ana. Sometimes life has its way of untangling the threads that hold us together."

"I hope you're not trying to lecture me on how to deal with Ness' death."

"I'm asking you to let him be his own person. He died doing what he felt was right, Ana. Even Giygas couldn't take that away from him."

"Well, he can't be anything now." Ana paused, taking a deep breath. "Does this all have to hurt so much?"

Mr. Agerate's face softened.

"It's to remind us why we should care."

"I care, all right," Ana said. "I'm going to kill Lucas. I'm going to tear his psyching head off."

"You can try," Mr. Agerate said. "But you will lose."

"I'll do whatever it takes to beat him."

"Even if it means becoming a savant yourself?" Mr. Agerate asked.

Ana opened her mouth, but no words came out.

"Listen," Mr. Agerate said. "Claus and I worked together to fight Lucas. I don't mean to brag, but with my sister and your parents gone, I'm probably the best fighter out of anyone in the universe. We used all of our effort to fight Lucas."

"And…?" Ana said.

"And we eventually landed one attack."

"That's _it?_ " Ana asked, feeling her eyes bug out of their sockets. "But… you're Diana Carpainter, right? You've never lost a fight before."

"Losing is relative," Mr. Agerate said. "When we were fighting Lucas, he was possessed by a man named Fassad, and one hit was all it took to free him of possession. But to kill him entirely… you might want to try a different route."

"Like what?" Ana asked.

"Appealing to what we feel more strongly than we'd like," Mr. Agerate said with a shrug. "Guilt."

"I'm not just going to sit down and _talk_ to the monster that murdered my boyfriend," Ana said. She drew a shaky breath. "I have nobody left, Mr. Agerate. Ness is dead, my parents are dead… and my friends don't even know the real me. Even if I'm just another victim on the edge of Lucas' blade…" Ana felt her muscles stiffen. "The universe won't be missing much."

"The choice is yours," Mr. Agerate said. "But I don't think that anyone _really_ wants to become a statistic. Who knows, though? Maybe that's fine for you."

Mr. Agerate turned away.

"I'm going back to the funeral grounds," he said. "Would you like to join me?"

"I guess," Ana said. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

 _And yes, Mr. Agerate, that's the extent to which I can care about my boyfriend's funeral._

* * *

When Ana walked onto the funeral grounds with Mr. Agerate, the first people she spotted were Tracy and Linda, Ness' sister and mom.

They were perhaps the last people in the world that Ana wished to talk to.

"Ana," Linda said, looking at her with an icy stare. "It is… nice to see you."

"Do you blame me for his death?" Ana asked. "You can tell me the truth."

"You put ideas into his head," Linda said. "He thought that he could do anything, and my son ends up dying in Scaraba of all places. What were you even doing there?"

"Conflict draws power," Ana said. "And Ness wouldn't have it any other way."

"See?" Linda said. "Before you came into the picture, he was just a regular boy. After meeting you, he probably thought that his psionics made him invincible. You lead him into dangerous situations."

"I see. Well, I'm glad that we got that cleared up."

"Mom!" Tracy said, turning on Linda. "Are you psyching _blind?_ "

Ana, Mr. Agerate, and Linda stared at Tracy.

"Listen," Linda said through gritted teeth. "I know that this is your brother's funeral and you're not in complete control of yourself, but you cannot-"

"I'm in _complete_ control," Tracy said. "And I'm sorry, but someone needs to tell you the truth!"

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Tracy," Mr. Agerate said. "But perhaps I can explain it in a way that doesn't seem so… confrontational."

Tracy furrowed her eyebrows, presumably trying to piece together what "confrontational" meant.

"Now Linda," Mr. Agerate said. "I had the honor of being Ness' teacher over on Ceres, and I got a chance to know him pretty well. I believe that Tracy means to say that the Ness you described, the one that will go off to a foreign country to save lives at the drop of a coin, is the original, pure Ness."

"What?" Linda said. "That's absurd!"

"The Ness that you described as 'normal'," Mr. Agerate continued, "Was traumatized by seeing hundreds of innocent people die at the hands of Carpainter's cultists and suffered from the guilt of killing hundreds of them back."

"Yeah," Tracy said. "Ness was helpless after dad died. Remember how you did _everything_ for him? That's not the 'normal' Ness. That's the really psyched up Ness that I was so glad to see him leave behind."

"I don't need anyone to tell me what my son is like. If you'll excuse me."

Linda walked away. Ana realized that she had been holding her breath and exhaled.

"I don't think she actually blames you," Tracy said. "She's just… upset. Not in complete control of herself." Tracy smirked. "Heh. Hypocrite. But seriously, I'm sure that she'll see reason eventually. She just needs a little time."

"Well, thank you both for sticking up of me," Ana said.

"Any time," Tracy said. "When I first saw Ness after the first semester of school… It wasn't hard to see that you had saved him and returned him back to the Ness that I knew. I would have rather spent those few short moments with the _real_ him then lived out the rest of my life dealing with some ball of anxiety. Thank you, Ana."

Tracy walked in and wrapped her arms around Ana.

"Thank you," she repeated.

Ana hugged her back, and after a few seconds she released Tracy and looked up at Mr. Agerate. The robed man wasn't examining Ana and Tracy, but instead looked off at the horizon. A gust of wind ruffled his silver hair.

"Hey Ana," Tracy said. "There's something that I want to show you in my house. Stay here as long as you want, but I'll be waiting for you there."

Tracy walked off, leaving Mr. Agerate and Ana alone.

"I wonder what she wants to show you," Mr. Agerate said, turning back towards Ana.

"You mean you didn't read her mind?"

"It wasn't really any of my business. Do you need anything else before I head off and talk to Jeff?"

Ana frowned. Why Jeff?

"I'm fine on my own."

"Don't hesitate to call me if you need help with anything," Mr. Agerate said.

"Yeah," Ana mumbled.

She stared at the ground for minutes after Mr. Agerate walked off. Did she even have the capacity to feel need after neglecting herself for so long?

* * *

After wandering around the funeral, Ana spotted Ninten staring at Ness' casket. She looked at the flowers and pictures that surrounded Ness' coffin. Naturally, Ness looked overjoyed in each and every one of them. It made Ana want to barf. People shuffled back and forth, none of them paying Ninten or Ana any mind. The two teenagers stood in silence for several minutes.

"So this is it," Ninten said. "This is how it feels. Again."

 _Oh, right,_ Ana thought. _He's probably still grieving Paula's death as well._

"I'm sorry," Ana said. "You've gone through a lot recently. I know that this has got to be absolutely heartrending for you."

"Don't worry about me," Ninten said. "I'm… fine. It's just overwhelming, you know?"

"Yeah."

"And in more ways than one. If this is how people feel about Ness, imagine the combined suffering from everyone Mary killed when she wiped Fiven off of the map."

Ana cringed. Don't think about that, not now.

"Besides, I'm sure that this is harder for you than it is for me," Ninten said. "You're his girlfriend, after all."

"I'm gay, Ninten. Or lesbian, or whatever people want to call me these days. Point is that I couldn't love him any more than you could."

"Ah, psych that. Anyone who's seen you two can tell that you care about each other."

"Cared," Ana corrected.

"You can still care about him, even if he's dead," Ninten said. "And I'm sure that he cares about you from beyond the grave. You know that the afterlife exists, right?"

Ana nodded.

"Our cognitive spirits wander around after we die," Ana said. "But I doubt it's as perfect as the Christians make it out to be."

"Do you think that Ness really needs a utopia to be happy?" Ninten asked.

"Maybe not. He'd be too damn innocent to know Hell if he stumbled on its doorstep."

"Yet somehow, he understood things that none of us could," Ninten said. "We're still dancing to his tune after he's gone."

"We are indeed." Ana paused. "Thanks for talking with me. It actually helps, believe it or not."

"Heh, I'm probably the last person that you'd expect to affect someone in a _positive_ way."

"Not true at all," Ana said. "You're a wonderful person. I don't want to be a bother, but…"

"Ah, just spit it out. You know that you can be blunt around me."

"I don't have anyone left," Ana said. "Is it okay if I… start trying to get closer with you again? Not in a romantic way or anything, of course, but…" Ana blushed. "I'm sorry."

"There's no need," Ninten said with a genuine smile. "And I'm surprised that you're this nervous. Is this part of the 'real' you as well?"

Ana nodded, her eyes downcast.

 _Naked._

 _Exposed._

 _HIDE!_

Ana gritted her teeth. No more locking herself away. Not for Minerva, not for Ness, not for herself.

"But yeah, of course you can," Ninten said. "I know that this entire year has been _hell_ for you, Ann. You lost your parents and your boyfriend to war. I'm amazed that you're still yourself."

"I'm not," Ana said. "I can't even pretend to be happy anymore."

"And nobody expects you to be happy," Ninten said. "You still care. That's enough, Ann."

They stood in silence again.

"You know," Ninten finally said. "I was talking with Diana Carpainter earlier. She clued me in on a lot that I missed."

"Like what?"

"Stuff about Paula. She was afraid of Ness because the starmen conditioned that response in her. She was part of their experiment to learn about fear."

"That… seems a little far-fetched."

"It makes sense," Ninten said. "According to Ness, she just seemed to vanish one day and he hadn't heard from her again until they met on Ceres."

"Okay, but how could Diana possibly know something like that?" Ana asked.

"She visited the Shard of Ceres. With a story that strange, I'm inclined to believe her. She also said that Paula was the one who killed Pokey and shut the Gate to Prosperity down during the night of the starman attack. Apparently, the starmen and empirists used her as a pawn."

"Yet another reason to fight against Giygas," Ana said.

"About that…" Ninten trailed off, looking between pictures of Ness that surrounded his coffin. "It seems like people who try to _stop_ Giygas do more harm than Giygas himself."

"Hmm?" Ana asked, unable to keep the hostility out of her voice.

"I know it sounds crazy, but bear with me. Minerva researched a lot of obscure uses for psionics to combat Giygas. That's what led her to turn Lucas into a psionic savant. She also bombed Aphrodite, killing 150 million people. As far as we've seen, the starmen don't tend to target innocents."

Ana replayed the scene of Minerva tearing out her own stomach and how she isolated the black poison from her guts. And after the scene finished with Minerva ramming the poison up Morgan Lorune's nose, Ana heard Minerva's dry laugh echo in the back of her mind.

"What about Mary?" Ana said. "Giygas used her to evaporate an entire city."

"She became a savant to fight Giygas," Ninten said, "And she stabbed _herself_ with Dynaldas to tear her spirit away from her body so that she wouldn't complete the process. It's all more of the same, Ann. How much are we willing to sacrifice to beat Giygas?"

"I don't know," Ana said. "But I'm not going to stop now. He's taken too psyching much from me."

"I don't blame you," Ninten said. "Just… recognize reason if it slaps you in the face, all right?"

"I'll try."

"Hey," Ana heard in Claus' voice. She turned around to spot the redhead walking towards them with his arms crossed over his chest. "Ninten, did I hear you say that you're not sure about fighting _Giygas?_ "

"It's a legitimate question," Ninten said. "We would all like him gone, but how far are we willing to go?"

"As far as we have to," Claus said. "Come on, Ana. You're with me on this one, right?"

"What if it means trying to kill Jeff again?" Ninten said. "Would you do that?"

"Wait," Ana said. "What? Claus, you…"

"It was a bad decision," Claus said, gritting his teeth.

"What if you were placed in a similar situation?" Ninten asked. "Where Jeff stood in between you and the destruction of Giygas. Would you slice him down? You did say that you would go as far as you had to."

"That situation doesn't make any sense," Claus said.

"And other situations might," Ninten said. "Forgive my lack of creativity and answer the psyching question."

"I… don't know if I could," Claus said.

"This is what happens when you think too much, Ninten," Ana said. "Claus and I aren't cut out for your _intellectual_ pursuits."

"Better to think too much than too little," Ninten said. "Otherwise, you might find yourself fighting for the wrong side. And both of you are smarter than you give yourselves credit for."

"I'll think about it later," Claus said, frowning. "Not that I really want to think about it at all. Let's see, is there anyone else that I should talk to around here?"

"Mostly people from Onett," Ana said. "I think Tracy told me that most of them hate Ness' family anyway."

"And yet Tracy and Linda still here?" Claus said. "What is this place, Aphrodite? I can't stand these tight-knit communities where nobody's allowed to break the norm."

"That makes two of us," Ninten said.

"I don't know," Ana said. "Big cities aren't much better in my eye."

"Yeah, people are just garbage in general," Claus said. "I'm lucky to be standing in front of two people who are the exception. I guess I'll take off now."

 _Believe me,_ Ana thought. _I might be worse than garbage._

"All right," Ana said, putting on a smile. "See you."

"And of course he doesn't even try to console you," Ninten said after Claus left. "But he means well."

"Which makes it quite fitting that you two get along, since you can put up with a lot of that kind of behavior."

"True," Ninten said. "True indeed." He looked back at Ness' coffin. "It's still not really sinking in, you know? I expect to wake up tomorrow and he'll be there to greet me. Just one of the many faults in this stupid pile of neurons that makes up my brain."

Ana smiled in spite of herself.

"I should probably go too," Ana said. "Tracy wanted to show me something at her house."

"Bye," Ninten said. "And we should totally hang out sometime. School's about to start again, you know. Are you planning on enrolling?"

"Why not?" Ana said. "Might as well distract myself until the next conflict begins."

"My thoughts exactly," Ninten said with a smirk. "See you, Ann."

Ana walked away from Ness' coffin, taking deep breaths. Because Mary vaporized Ness' body along with the entire city of Fiven, the casket contained nothing but air. That didn't bother her. A body couldn't compare to all of the emotions that they shared and all of the time they spent together.

* * *

As Ness' house came into view, Ana spotted an unexpected face.

"Darius," Ana said. "Are you here for the funeral?"

Upon closer inspection, she detected puffiness in Darius' eyes. Had he been _crying?_ For some reason, that didn't seem like something he would do.

"Indeed," Darius said. "I'm truly sorry for what happened, Ana. If I had just stayed with him…"

"Then Lucas probably would have killed you too," Ana said.

"Thanks," Darius said. "But I could have teleported him to safety."

"Not as well as you might think," Ana said, remembering how she abandoned Claus while fighting Lucas back on Vulcan. "Still, it seems odd for you to come, since…"

"Since Lucas was working with Giygas, who was working with me?" Darius asked.

"Honestly, yeah."

Darius sighed, shaking his head. An evening breeze passed over, prompting Darius to shiver.

"I can't fault you for thinking that way," he said. "And you probably don't want to hear my excuse, but I _am_ sorry." His eyes flashed with determination. "Honestly, I'm thinking about running away from all of this. From the war and death. General Kim's brother is working to start an uprising on Ceres, but I don't know if I want to be a part of it."

"Kim's brother? I hope he's nothing like the Dalaamian general."

"He's not. I know him quite well."

"Still," Ana said. "If you want to run, that's your choice."

"But I don't want to live alone," Darius said. "That's why… This is going to sound strange, but will you run away and live with me?"

"As a romantic couple?" Ana asked.

"If you want."

"Well, that wouldn't be possible between us."

Darius bristled.

"Because of my race?" he asked.

"Because of who _I_ am," Ana said. "I… like other girls."

"Oh." Darius' eyes widened. "I'm sorry. Again, you probably don't want to hear an excuse…"

"Out with it."

"I'm used to being judged based on my race. The Scarabans see me as Dalaamian. The Dalaamians see me as Scaraban. Everyone else sees me like a chimera, as a brutish hybrid between the two. It makes me prickly. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Ana said. "I have to apologize too, because I'm not willing to leave my friends behind and run away with you. Besides, I can't let myself ignore what's happening on Ceres."

"That's what I expected," Darius said. "I just thought that I would ask. Best of luck, Ana Aniah."

"Best of luck, Darius."

Darius waved goodbye and walked towards the funeral grounds. Ana sighed and walked up to Ness' house, knocking on the door. She shivered and stomped her feet. The Eagleish winters weren't nearly as cruel as when she lived back in Snowman, but that didn't make the temperature comfortable, either.

Tracy opened the door and gestured for Ana to enter. Ana stepped inside, taking off her shoes.

"This place feels so much more… empty," Ana said.

Tracy snorted.

"Tell me about it. I think mom always needed Ness more than she let on. She didn't do super well when he left for Ceres, and now she's starting to lose it. She just expresses herself in odd ways."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ana said.

"Well, don't let me talk your ear off complaining about all of my problems. Here, come upstairs."

Tracy led Ana up a flight of stairs and into a hallway. She walked all the way down and opened a door at the end, gesturing for Ana to step inside.

Upon entering the room, Ana spotted a number of paintings arranged on the floor. The first one was of Ness and Ana standing next to each other. In the painting, Ness wore a shy smile while Ana wrapped an arm around his shoulders like an older sister. Ana stood confidently yet in a relaxed position, smiling in a way that looked powerful yet kind.

 _Oh, psych,_ Ana thought, tears coming to her eyes. _Ness painted these, didn't he? This is how he saw me._

The next painting depicted only Ana, carrying an axe that she held casually in her right hand. She stood up straight and smiled, giving of an impression that she was prepared to protect anyone that needed her help.

 _He didn't know that all of it was a lie,_ Ana thought. _That I'm the weakest person alive._

The last painting pictured so many people that it took Ana a couple moments to identify them all. On the left side stood Ness next to his mother and Tracy while a ghost that Ana assumed was his father stood overhead. They all looked happy, and Ness in particular just seemed to fit in with his family. On the right side stood Ana and her parents. Ana stood in the same, confident way that Ness depicted her earlier, while her parents stood behind her shoulder to shoulder and smiled.

That last painting sent chills down Ana's spine. Everyone looked so psyching happy in the painting, even the ghost of Ness' father… Ana tore her head away.

"That was all he ever wanted," Tracy said. "He wanted all of us to be one big family. Eventually, he recognized that he could never get dad back, so he hoped to create new bonds. But now…" Tracy closed her eyes. "He has none of that."

It took all of Ana's willpower not to sink to her knees. Not only had Ness died, but Ana's parents lay in some Dalaamian ditch as well. Both sides had lost so much.

"These are beautiful," Ana said. "When did he get the time to paint these?"

"I don't know," Tracy said. "I wondered that myself. It's so sad, to see his inner thoughts and realize that he only wanted us to be happy together. We can't give him that, can we?"

"No," Ana said. "Especially me. True joy has escaped me for years. Being with Ness unlocked _something_ inside, but… Ah, I don't know how to describe it."

"It's fine," Tracy said. "Besides, there's something else that I need to show you."

A hexagon-shaped spark flashed in Tracy's hand for a brief moment.

"You…" Ana said. "You can…?"

"I'm 13," Tracy said, "And awakening day was last week. I went to the meteorite to see if I could use psionics. And that was what I found."

 _"Can you hear me, Ana?"_

"Oh, psych!" Ana said, nearly jumping out of her skin. "You scared me there, Tracy!"

"Sorry." Tracy grimaced. "But I have a request for you, Ana. Ness wanted us to be a family. I think that he was right. I want to see you as my older sister, Ana. I want you to teach me psionics. And…" Tracy's face darkened. "I want to be there when you face Lucas."

Ana froze. How could she explain that there was so much wrong with Tracy's request?

"So?" Tracy asked. "How about it?"

"You're… so young," Ana managed.

"And you're only a few years older," Tracy said. "I'm probably more responsible than Ness, anyway."

"I don't want to put you in danger," Ana said.

"You didn't want to put Ness in danger," Tracy said. "Yet you still let him do what he wanted. I'm asking for the same thing."

"I'm going back to school on Ceres," Ana said, "And you're not allowed to enroll. We wouldn't be able to do much together even if you did come to Ceres with me."

"Actually," Tracy said. "I talked to President Monotoli directly about that. He's letting me enroll in classes. I bet he's desperate to get new psions trained since Giygas is getting stronger."

 _Oh, psych,_ Ana thought. _Ness was already too young, and now Tracy might meet the same fate at an even younger age. How can I say yes to this?_

"What about your mom?" Ana asked. "Would you want to leave her alone?"

"She wants to ship me off to my aunt," Tracy said. "Nobody else knows."

"Ship you off?"

"She doesn't feel like she can be a great mother to me. Maybe she can't. But I don't know this aunt."

"Shouldn't you be…?"

"More concerned? Probably." Tracy sighed. "I don't know. I guess I'm just too drained to feel much of anything right now. Going through Ness' funeral nearly made me break down. But don't you see? My brother and dad are both dead, and my mom is abandoning me. You're…" Tracy choked back tears. "You're the closest thing I have to family left, Ana."

"Tracy…"

"Please, Ana! Don't leave me alone! I don't want to live with someone who I've never met before."

One look into Tracy's desperate eyes told Ana what she had to do.

"All right," Ana said. "Come with me. I'll try to teach you what I know. But please keep in mind that I'm struggling with this too, and I don't know everything about psionics or Ceres. Not by a long shot."

"Thank you, Ana!" Tracy clasped her hands together. "I… didn't know what I would do if you said no."

"Don't worry," Ana said. "I'll be there for you. But you have to stay safe."

"Of course." Tracy grinned. "Safe as a hermit crab in its shell."

Tracy was right. If Ana had given the chance to Ness, then she should do the same for his sister.

But when she thought about Tracy facing down Lucas' empty eyes, her stress turned nauseous.

* * *

 **Most of my edits this chapter focused on Ana's character. Initially I had her be even more distraught and have her hide in her shell even more. I ended up taking the opposite approach: to have her start to come to terms with how she has to find her own meaning since she can't control the lives of the people she cares about and therefore will always suffer if she tries to live through them. Her character's always been tricky for me since I want to balance her incredible strength (more emotionally than physically) and fortitude with vulnerability. I think a lot of people are like that tbh, and I'm working on trying to make her character better and better.**

 **Here are some terms if you care:**

 **Mr. Agerate:** Jeff's known since part 2 of this fic that Mr. Agerate is Diana, but Ana's finding it out for the first time here.

 **Darius:** Another OC, wants to bargain with Giygas instead of fighting him. Lived in the Scaraban slums and wants justice for the less fortunate.

 **Psionic Savant:** Someone who has fused body and spirit to become an ultra-powerful being. This comes at the cost of a robotic desire to destroy, because the psychic power crowds out normal parts of the mind that help restrain people. Lucas also lost further function and is close to a robotic killing machine (Masked Man), while Mary is capable of normal speech ect. However, even though Lucas has more psionic power corrupting his mind, he's less powerful because he can only channel his energy through a psychic sword, so he can't wipe civilizations off the map like Mary.

 **Dynaldas:** The knife of power, one of the three knives that was in the Author's Note in the previous chapter. It contains Mary's spirit. As alluded to in this chapter, Mary originally wanted to become a savant to fight Giygas (and was the real power behind the throne due to George's schizophrenia), but after recognizing the dangers wanted a way out. Because her body and spirit had partially connected, the only way to keep from being a savant was to keep her spirit chained and separated from her body forever was to drain it into the knife. But Giygas managed to preserve her body and once Mary's spirit went back into her body by being stabbed with Dynaldas she became a savant.

 **Review response: Guest:** Yeah I'm doing well! :) Thanks for your well-wishes and since I've been sitting on these drafts for about a year and a half now (wowow), I'll try to pump them out quickly!


	23. Chapter 19: Second Thoughts

_The fate of my people is sealed. Every last Osohe is marked for destruction._

 _We are doomed._

* * *

Jeff Andonuts stepped onto Ness' funeral grounds. Looking around, he didn't spot anyone that he recognized. It certainly _looked_ like a place for the dead, with all of the hushed conversations and bare-branched trees.

He walked over to Ness' funeral casket and saw Ninten staring at pictures of Ness that surrounded the coffin. The psion in training didn't notice Jeff until he cleared his throat.

"Oh, hey there," Ninten said, his voice deflated. "I see that you got your armor fixed up."

"Yeah, I replaced the psionic crystals. You can tell based on the aura that it gives off?"

Ninten nodded. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I never imagined that Ness would go down like this," Ninten said. "It's always someone else that's supposed to die in war _._ But…" Ninten laughed; the sound was devoid of humor, "We're all someone else to the rest of the world, aren't we? Just specks floating through our lives while our planets and stars spin."

"I see you've been thinking," Jeff said.

"Thinking is all I do, and I can't even do it well." Ninten snorted. "But then again, what else is new?"

"I… don't really have a response for that."

"Technically, that _was_ a response." Ninten winked. "But who am I kidding? You can hardly stomach me, right? Because I'm rude and unpredictable. I get it, Jeff. I don't mind if you leave or even look at Ness' coffin from a different angle so that you don't have to stand next to me."

"No," Jeff said. "I don't… ah, the words just refuse to come out of my mouth. I'm not sure if I really like you, Ninten, but the least that I can do is respect you. We're both working towards the same goal, right?"

"We are." Ninten smiled, but even that motion looked pained. "I've been meaning to ask you something. When Mary used her telekinesis to wrench the Sword of Kings out of my grasp and sent it flying towards her, you caught it and managed to hold on for far longer than you should have. How?"

Jeff shrugged.

"I just pulled," he said.

"But it doesn't make any sense. Mary's strength is immense, not something that someone should really be able to resist for long. Yet when Darius and Claus helped you, it seemed like they were hardly doing anything at all because _you_ were the one holding the Sword of Kings back."

"I can't say that I have an answer to that," Jeff said.

"It's just been driving me crazy." Ninten shook his head. "But if you're that competent under pressure then I should really be sticking around you for my own safety."

Jeff felt his face redden. He knew that Ninten wasn't the type to give out compliments unless he completely meant it.

"I think that I'm going to head off," Ninten said. "I've sat here staring at Ness' empty coffin for too psyching long already."

 _Empty?_ Jeff thought. _Oh, that's right. Ness' body got vaporized with the rest of Fiven. I guess the casket's just symbolic… although pretty much every burial ritual is._

"What are you planning to do?" Jeff said.

"No idea. There's got to be something in Onett and Twoson that I haven't checked out. At worst, I can get myself drunk."

"You know that studies show that alcohol is bad for the developing brain, right?"

"Yeah, but it's a poison so I can just heal it with my PSI if I go overboard."

"Except that your judgment becomes impaired."

"All right," Ninten said. "I won't get myself drunk, _mom._ Are you happy now?"

Jeff took a step back, recoiling away from Ninten's harsh tone. After a moment, Ninten's face grew apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Jeff," he said.

"Don't mention it," Jeff said. "Try to enjoy yourself, all right?"

"I don't know if I can even manage that."

Ninten walked away. After taking a couple dozen paces, he turned back one last time to look at Ness' coffin.

Jeff could spot tears in his eyes.

Jeff bit his lip, watching as Ninten walked out of sight. As much as Ninten's unpredictability stressed Jeff out, at least he could admire Ninten's passion for everything that he did.

After minutes more of looking at the symbolic embodiment of Ness' remains, the Dalaamian-Scaraban man that helped Jeff and his friends fight Mary in Scaraba walked up. He met Jeff's eyes and offered a polite smile.

"It's Darius, right?" Jeff said. "I'm Jeff Andonuts, in case you forgot."

"Yes, that is my name. And it is not easy to forget yours considering your relation to Dr. Andonuts."

Jeff nodded, not sure how else to continue the conversation.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here," Darius said. "Since I'm not one of his friends and I clearly am not part of this Eagleish community."

"Yeah, a little."

"I come to give my respects to a wonderful person who inspired me," Darius said. "It's something about how… genuine and considerate he was."

"I see."

"Heh, I'm sorry that this is so awkward," Darius said. "You don't have to keep talking to me if you don't want to. Although…" Darius trailed off, cocking his head. "I could use your assistance."

"In what? I don't want to fight in another war. I don't want to make weapons anymore. It just seems so _pointless._ " Jeff sighed. "I really wanted to make Fiven a free city. But now it doesn't even exist at all."

"Right, and the same thing could happen anywhere, since nobody can stop Mary," Darius said. "Quite sobering, no? It's harder to paint each other as the bad guy who needs a couple lasers to the stomach when something like _her_ hangs in the shadows of every fear."

"So you're not asking me to make machinery for you?" Jeff said.

"I never said that. War, no. Technology, yes. You see, my group is planning to start an uprising on Ceres. A peaceful one."

"A peaceful uprising?" Jeff snorted. "How exactly does that work?"

"Protests. When they beat us, we don't fight back. When they kill us, we don't fight back."

"What purpose does that serve?"

"If you were a member of the general public and you saw the protestors getting beaten and murdered and none of them doing the beating or murdering, who would you side with?"

"Ah…"

"Exactly. We wish to gain the support of the entire Ceresian public by standing up against Monotoli. The harsher they treat us, the more sympathy we will receive." Darius looked Jeff in the eye. "But _only_ if we can get the message out."

"Is that where I come in?"

"Indeed. Can you build a recording device? A… video player, so to speak? They're not really available to the public, so we cannot simply purchase a few."

"Like the kind they use to film movies?" Jeff said. "I could figure it out. I think."

"It's fine if you can't," Darius said. "I have no idea how complicated it would be, so don't hesitate to tell me if I'm asking too much."

"I can try," Jeff said. "I'll need something to go off of, though. Perhaps I could check out my father's lab?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Darius said. "But right now, I have other matters to attend to. I'll meet you back here, all right?"

"You have to go right now?"

"As soon as possible. I only came to say a quick goodbye to Ness. It's strange. I only really knew him for less than a day, but I can still feel a hole in my heart."

Darius put a hand over his chest and grimaced.

"So just imagine how big the holes in our hearts are," Jeff said.

Darius paused. "I hate to leave you on this note, but…"

"Yeah, you're busy. I understand."

Jeff turned back to face Darius and managed a smile. Darius nodded back, almost looking like a short bow.

"Teleport," Darius said.

The next second, only air remained where Darius formerly stood. Jeff sighed, turning back to Ness' empty coffin.

"An uprising on Ceres, huh? I'm surprised that he would tell you in such a crowded area."

Jeff yelped, jumping up and turning around to find himself face to face with Mr. Agerate.

"Oh," Jeff said. "It's just you. I was worried that you were one of my friends."

"I'm not?" Mr. Agerate said, his eyes twinkling. "That stings, Jeff."

"You know what I mean. Ana probably would have… well, I don't know what she would have done, but I don't imagine that I would have liked it."

"I can agree with that statement." Mr. Agerate sighed. "This must be so hard for her. Losing her parents just a month ago and losing her boyfriend now… who does she have left?"

"Ninten, hopefully. That's more than I have."

"But you have me, remember?" Mr. Agerate said.

An unexpected feeling of warmth blossomed through Jeff's chest.

"Looks like nobody's paying attention to us," Mr. Agerate said. "Do you want to head over to your father's lab?"

"You heard about that?" Jeff said. "I guess if it's short. I wouldn't want Darius to think that I left him behind, after all."

"Of course," Mr. Agerate said. "Teleport."

* * *

Jeff noticed the cold before he could even made out his surroundings. He shivered as the pieces of the world came together around him, placing him in room with metal machines and contraptions piled on top of each other.

"A recording device," Mr. Agerate said. "Actually, let me take off this persona. Polymorph."

Mr. Agerate's features and build changed into a middle aged woman with wiry limbs, silver hair, and a bow slung over her back.

"Hello, Diana Carpainter," Jeff said with a smile. "Oh, that reminds me. Thank you for stopping Mary for as long as you could. You saved thousands of lives."

"And yet, I wasn't nearly strong enough to keep her from evaporating an entire city," Diana said. "But thanks for the recognition. I just wish that I could have done more."

"Welcome to my life," Jeff said.

He hadn't meant for those words to come out as bitter as they did.

"I know," Diana said. "When you're constantly surrounded by psions, it makes you want to do more. Even Minerva said that she looked up to me when we were children, and she ended up becoming the most powerful psion in the universe."

"But then…"

"Yeah, she bombed Aphrodite into oblivion. But I'm not sure I would have acted differently. Would you have pulled the trigger?"

"She dropped the nuclear weapons because she released Giygas by accident, right?" Jeff said. "And she was trying to take him out even if it meant bringing the entire planet down with him? I don't know what I would have done in her situation."

"It's hard to blame her too harshly," Diana said. "But we're not here to talk about my sister. Let's find some video recorders."

"This place is so messy," Jeff said. "I don't even know if half of this stuff is safe to touch."

"I got it," Diana said. "If I can just pick out the auras…"

Diana spent a few minutes rummaging through Dr. Andonuts' junk. Eventually, she found a bulky video recorder connected to a broken tripod that looked like it would be used to film movies or television shows.

"Got it!" she said, flashing a smile.

"Is there anything that you _can't_ do?" Jeff asked. "I swear, you put every psion on Ceres to shame."

"Not sure if you actually want me to answer, but I know that I can't outrun my past," Diana said. "Do you ever have nightmares, Jeff?"

"All the time, especially after Tony died in the chimera labs. Why do you ask?"

"Every night," Diana said, her voice so soft that Jeff needed to lean in closer to hear. "I get them. It's rare for me to last more than a few hours without jolting awake. They come in different forms. Most of them involve my father and his cult. Them beating me, electrocuting me… you know, normal cult things. People tell me that I'm powerful, but it's hard for me to believe when I'm so helpless against the will of my mind."

"I… didn't know," Jeff said. "I'm sorry."

"I think that Minerva got those nightmares too," Diana said. "When she pulled the switch and dropped the nuclear warheads on Aphrodite, her friend Morgan nearly killed her."

"That doesn't surprise me," Jeff said. "They seemed to hate each other back when they were both still alive."

"Right, because Morgan's family was on Aphrodite when Minerva bombed it. None of them made it out alive."

"Oh my gosh," Jeff said. "Well, that explains a lot."

"Right," Diana said. "Minerva hurt Morgan by killing her family. Morgan nearly killed Minerva back. Neither one of them were the same after that. How could you be?" Diana shook her head. "Strength doesn't always stop you from feeling powerless, Jeff. There's always _something_ out of your control. But hopefully, fixing this video recorder isn't that thing."

"It's broken?" Jeff said. "Yeah, I should be able to take it apart and fix it. Hopefully, I can figure out how to replicate the design."

"We can always go back to the Shard if you need more knowledge about this thing."

"I don't want to go through that hall with the people talking to me again," Jeff said. "It was painful enough the first time."

Diana's eyes flashed with recognition. To go to the center of the Shard of Ceres where all of the information that had been discovered by the human race was archived, a person had to walk on a road with enemies trying to scare them off and loved ones trying to lure them in. People who stepped off the path were never seen again.

"You're probably right," Diana said. "Before we head back to Onett, I want to show you something else."

Diana gestured for Jeff to follow her. She led him over to a machine that looked like a circular cartoon animal with a bulbous nose wearing a ribbon.

"This is the Phase Distorter, right?" Jeff asked.

Diana nodded.

"From what I can tell, it was constructed by a race of aliens that looked like this. It's hard to imagine their stubby feet actually being useful, but I guess they survived well enough. We call them Aphrodes, although your father's name of 'Mr. Saturn' for them is _far_ more catchy."

"Mr. Saturn, huh?" Jeff said. "None of them are still around, I take it?"

"They lived on Aphrodite, so even if they were around recently…"

"Oh."

"Yeah. Dr. Andonuts said that he thought the Osohe made this machine, but the aura it gives off is… different. I don't know how to describe it."

"It allows you to see into alternate dimensions, right?" Jeff said.

"That's one of its uses, yes. It also allows for time travel, which is how I suspect that Kumatora ended up in this timeline. But I found that it can look into the past of _this_ dimension. There's something that I want to show you."

"What do I have to do?"

"Just look at the machine."

 _"What is the password?"_ Jeff heard in his mind.

"Did the machine just use telepathy?" Jeff asked. "I've never seen anything like that before."

"It did," Diana said. Turning to the machine and speaking telepathically, _"The password is LOVE."_

"Diana!" Jeff said. "Was that you speaking?"

"Yeah, I gave the password. I broadcasted it so that you could hear. Is that alarming in some way?"

 _Well, no,_ Jeff thought. _But the password itself…_

"You might want to close your eyes," Diana said.

Jeff opened his mouth but then cut himself off. He could ask about LOVE later.

Jeff took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He saw…

 _He saw…_

 _The remains of a battlefield. He could only see one army of people that looked like humans. But they couldn't possibly be humans. They all looked beautiful with symmetrical faces and hair colors that spanned the rainbow palette._

 _He supposed that it didn't matter. They were clearly dead._

 _The view zoomed out, revealing more and more dead people. He could begin to see starman remains along with the corpses of the beautiful people._

 _He could see massive buildings made out of stained glass and designed in marvelous ways that incorporated curves and different shapes of glass to create wondrous images of refracted light._

 _Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound._

 _The view panned over to a woman standing at the base of a tower made of purple crystals. The tower stretched so high that he wondered if it pierced the clouds. The woman cried and screamed, holding the remains of another person in her arms._

 _"Why?" she said. "Why did you make me do this?"_

 _She buried her face in her hands._

 _"At least… I saved some. They are blissfully unaware of their fates."_

 _Minutes passed._

 _"I have no reason left to live."_

 _The woman cried out in pain, and the tower behind her shifted and molded itself into a different shape entirely. Instead of standing straight up, it now looked like an upside down cone that pierced into the ground. A grand stairway led up to an entrance to the crystal building._

 _The woman was nowhere to be seen._

Jeff gasped, returning to the present. What had he just seen?

"The woman," Jeff said. "She looked like Kumatora."

"That was Lorraine Olva Var Entaire," Diana said. "Queen of the Osohe."

"I… remember that name," Jeff said. "Poo told us to look her up once, I think. "

"The Osohe worshipped her as a goddess," Diana said. "But that's only half of the point. The tower that turned into the other building. Did you recognize it?"

"The Shard of Ceres." Jeff paced back and forth. "The Osohe Queen mangled Osohe architecture to create _the Shard of Ceres_ with her dying breath."

"I don't really know what it means," Diana said. "But Minerva seemed to think that it was important. She told me that Lorraine was the key to this entire conflict. I thought that you might be able to figure it out, since you're a lot smarter than I am."

"I wouldn't say that," Jeff said. "And I have nothing. Other than the fact that her psionics are unlike anything I've ever seen. It's probably a safe bet to assume that she somehow coded the Shard to record everything that happened throughout human history."

"I hadn't thought of that," Diana said. "If only Fassad were still around…"

"Who's that?" Jeff asked.

"A magypsy," Diana said. "They were related to the Osohe, I think. Only seven ever existed, and they all vanished when Morgan Lorune pulled the seven needles on Aphrodite. But Fassad's psionic spirit was lurking around for a while." Diana frowned. "I think it's trapped in the knife Phonus."

"So it became part of the Sword of Kings, along with Hinawa's and Mary's spirits," Jeff said.

"Unfortunately," Diana said. "But what can we do, you know? Ready to head back to Onett?"

"Yeah," Jeff said, hugging his arms. "I'm about to freeze here."

* * *

Lucas was _thinking._

He knew that he wasn't supposed to think. He was an output device for Giygas. He had no will of his own. He _never_ had a will of his own.

So why did he keep thinking about Ness' death?

 _"Why didn't you fight back?"_

 _"Because we're friends."_

Illogical child.

 _"Friends… help each other."_

Psych it.

"Hey, Lucas."

Lucas blinked. He hadn't even noticed Darius walk up to him.

"Everything all right?"

"Is this how you talk to machines?" Lucas asked.

Darius drew a deep breath. Lucas could sense the nervousness underneath.

"We made a deal, remember?" Darius said.

"Deals are for humans, not starmen or psionic savants." Lucas paused. "But I'll still go through with this."

"Great," Darius said, a relieved smile coming to his face. "Teleport."

Lucas appeared in a different part of the starman base. It still had the same grey walls and grey floor as always, but in this location prisoners were locked behind grey bars. Lucas looked at a pink-haired girl who hung from the ceiling by clasps on her hands. Her eyes were closed and Lucas couldn't detect an expression on her face.

"This is Kumatora," Darius said. "She needs your help. The clamps are enchanted to basically put her into a period of hibernation, so she can't sense you or talk to you."

"This is one of Ness' friends?" Lucas asked.

"Yes," Darius said. "If you get rid of her, you'll stop thinking about Ness."

"I could just kill her," Lucas said. "That seems easier than freeing her."

He detected a glint of panic in Darius' eyes. Was he not supposed to say that?

"No, that will only make things worse." Darius said. "If you kill her, you'll think about Ness even more. By freeing her, you'll counteract the deed of killing him and neutralize the playing field."

"That makes no sense," Lucas said.

"Do your thoughts of Ness make sense in the first place?"

Lucas shook his head.

"I am a human, and we are the masters of senseless action," Darius said. "Trust me; I understand how to make the voices in your head go away."

Lucas considered Darius' words. What was there to lose? Master Giygas didn't need the girl anymore, so freeing her wouldn't be a problem.

"All right," Lucas said.

He summoned his sword that made up patterns of transparent patches of colored material just like stained glass. The colors that the sword displayed switched every second, leading to the appearance of an entire world of stained glass.

"Careful not to slice through her skin," Darius said. "Just take off her bonds."

Lucas nodded, bringing his sword up to the metal clasps and slicing them open. They hardly provided any resistance to his psionic sword. Kumatora fell free from the clasps and landed on the ground with a startled cry.

"Where the psych am I?" Kumatora asked, leaping to her feet. "And who are you?"

"I'm a friend," Darius said. "And he's…"

"A psionic savant working for Master Giygas," Lucas said.

"Okay, then," Kumatora said. "So what the psych is going on?"

"Master Giygas no longer needs you," Lucas said. "He has examined your DNA and discovered how to create life out of nothingness."

Both Darius and Kumatora fell silent.

"Is it a human instinct to do nothing after someone speaks?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, psych!" Kumatora said. "I just remembered my mother telling me never to let myself fall into Giygas' hands for that exact reason. Oh, psych…" She zoned out.

"Kumatora!" Darius said. "Are you all right?"

"That… coma," Kumatora said. "It made me remember."

"More like a stasis, honestly," Lucas said.

"Whatever. I remember everything about my past now. I lived with the Osohe. I _am_ one of the Osohe." Kumatora laughed. "And I'm 34 years old. That's a little awkward."

"Are you… sure about that?" Darius asked.

"It doesn't matter," Kumatora said. "Let's get out of here. But…" she looked back at Lucas. "Giygas creating life is a big game-changer. What if he doesn't ever run out of starmen?"

"Let us talk about it later," Darius said. "You probably wish to visit your friend's funeral, yes?"

"Oh, psych. Who died this time?"

"Ness."

"What? Out of all of us, _he_ dies? The universe officially is not fair."

"I'm glad that you came to that conclusion at 34 years of age. Now, shall I teleport us to Onett?"

"Please do," Kumatora said. "This place actually terrifies me."

"Same," Darius said. "Teleport."

They both vanished from sight, leaving Lucas alone.

 _"Goodbye, Lucas."_

Lucas clutched his head in pain. Didn't Darius say that he would stop hearing Ness' voice speak to him once he freed Kumatora? Maybe it would just take time. Lucas placed his hands back at his side and stood still. No use in wasting usable energy by walking around.

* * *

Mary watched Darius and Kumatora teleport away. By the way that the clasps were cut, Lucas had helped free the girl. Odd, since that order hadn't come from Master Giygas. Was the boy developing a will of his own?

 _Like you're one to judge,_ Mary thought. _You couldn't bring yourself to kill anyone ever since you vaporized that city._

Giygas had given Mary more autonomy than any of his other units. Unlike the starmen or Lucas, Mary could think for herself and make her own plans. She wasn't sure why Giygas gave her so much freedom, but she wasn't going to complain. Still, she worried that she was abusing Giygas' gift of freewill.

After taking Fiven off the map, a voice started screaming at her in the back of her mind. Whenever she thought about killing, it got louder. Whenever she _tried_ to kill someone, it got so loud that she couldn't focus on her task. Mary tried to ignore the voice, but it was wearing her down.

She was starting to wonder if the battle in Scaraba was actually a victory. By all logical measures it was. Giygas' forces eliminated about a third of Ceres' combat-ready psions at little expense to their army. But Lucas was developing a consciousness and Mary was finding new roadblocks to her path of killing. The war had already taken its toll on both of them.

How much longer could they last?

* * *

 **The characters are still recovering from what happened in Scaraba, and it looks like Mary and Lucas are no exceptions.**

 **Kumatora:** Was captured by Giygas in Scaraba.

 **Video Recorder:** Despite futuristic technology, because everything runs on PSI crystals even basic devices are expensive. This was preferable for the nobles in the Old Empire when they wanted to keep the common people down, and they didn't really develop electricity or oil or anything else. Since then, tech has been getting a bit more affordable, but even something like a refrigerator is reserved for mostly the upper class.

 **Jeff making weapons:** Jeff got involved in the Scaraban Revolution where they waned to overthrow Eagleish imperialists by making rockets. However, these weapons led to a lot of bloodshed, and now Jeff is warier about using his inventions as weapons.


	24. Chapter 20: Goodbye, Earth

_And here I stand, unable to move or act. A literal stone is what I have become. We were granted eternal life by our creator Lorraine, but I'm starting to wonder if that is a curse rather than a blessing._

 _Well, at least I can still think and communicate with my telepathy. Maybe someone will stumble along my path in a few centuries._

* * *

Prince Poo of Dalaam returned to his humble, clay residence to find Darius standing inside and holding up an ancient Egyptian vase. When Poo walked in, it took Darius several moments to turn around, although he doubtless detected Poo's psionic aura.

"It's amazing that people who lived over 2000 years ago could create art that still holds up, yes?" Darius asked, holding the vase up in front of Poo. "I cannot tell if the people on the front are pharaohs or gods, but I suppose that it does not matter. Their culture has long been stamped out, by both us Scarabans and the empire."

"Well, the empire's gone now," Poo said. "So by all rights, the few Egyptians left should be set free."

"And speak secrets about the genocides that took place?" Darius said. "Eagleland would never allow that."

"I suppose not."

"It's a good reminder," Darius said. "How with a single order, entire cultures can be destroyed. Wiped off the face of the planet, with a few exceptions. And this was _before_ psions had the power to vaporize entire cities."

"Mary is no normal psion."

"I didn't claim that she was." Darius sighed, setting the vase down. "But more people will start to experiment with psionic savants after this. Everyone wants to gain an edge in the universal conflict."

"I hope that you're wrong," Poo said. "We might learn from our mistakes."

"When have we ever done that?" Darius chuckled. "So how did you think of the way that we run these refugee camps?"

"It's better than I expected," he said. "People have food, water, and shelter. They're not completely happy after what happened to Fiven, but they're all grateful to you and your organization. You also add in little touches that show you care. Spices in foods. Toys for children. I'm not sure where you're getting all of the resources."

"Dalaam, mostly," Darius said. "Psions can transport the goods easily."

"And even in other camps that I wasn't supposed to visit, the quality of service is higher than I expected," Poo said.

"Ah, of course you visited the others. You're as skeptical as I am, Poo."

"It's good to know that you weren't just putting on a show for me in this one location." Poo shrugged. "So are you here to ask me if I'm willing to take command of Dalaam?"

"Yes," Darius said.

"So I will continue to provide the troops and resources that Kim wants, but otherwise I am free to do with Dalaam as I wish. Is this correct?"

"True as a snake's venom."

 _Scaraban idioms make even less sense than other places'._

"In that case," Poo said. "I accept. I'll be your Dalaamian King, and I'll try to sway popular favor over to your side. But I have one condition."

"Spit it out."

"If you take troops from Dalaam into battle, I will request to command them. That means we attack when I say so and pull out when I say so."

"You drive a hard bargain."

"Take it or leave it. I won't stand by as the King of Dalaam while my men are off dying under the command of some foreign force. I need my people's trust, and that comes with _not_ handing them over to you and Kim."

Darius cracked a smile.

"Terms accepted."

"You have the authority to amend the deal?" Poo said, raising an eyebrow. "I thought that you would go off and tell Kim."

"He will not mind. Thank you for your cooperation, King Poo of Dalaam."

Poo couldn't help but laugh after hearing his new title.

"It's going to take a _long_ time before that sounds familiar," he said.

"If you say so, your majesty."

* * *

Ninten set a bouquet of flowers over Paula's grave in Twoson. Since he wouldn't come back here for several months, he figured that he could take the hour-long round trip to visit what was left of Paula.

He looked at Paula's plaque. It read, _"Paula Polestar, who heroically sacrificed her life to stop a tyrant in Dalaam."_ Ninten had never known General Kim before, but Poo had told him enough to understand why his death was a relief to the entire universe.

"Would you have made that choice again?" Ninten asked, looking down at Paula's grave. "If you could do it all over, would you still choose to trade your life for some people to escape?"

He looked back at his bouquet of flowers. It was more than he had given her during her life. Ninten still didn't know the proper occasions and procedure for buying gifts for a romantic partner, but he now wished that he had tried to learn.

…Not that Paula had really given him anything, either. Maybe they were just happy with each other. Ninten wanted to ask, even though he knew that he would only receive silence in return.

 _Is this why people believe in god?_ Ninten thought. _To think that Paula's in a better place right now… I'll never believe it, but it would be comforting to think that._

Although, the afterlife did exist whether or not god did. Ninten knew that Paula's spirit was floating around in the psionic plane. Maybe she was looking at him right now, although he doubted it. Maybe he could convince himself that she was better off there, but he still couldn't believe it. Why would there logically be a utopia after life? Paula was probably lonely, wandering around the psionic plane with nobody to chat with.

Or maybe she was talking with Ness right now. They were childhood friends, after all, and Paula had more or less gotten rid of her fear of him. So while life after death probably wasn't anything exciting or breathtaking, maybe Paula and Ness didn't need a utopia.

Maybe they just needed each other.

"You guys take care, all right?" Ninten said, hardly able to hear his own voice. "I'll miss both of you more than you'll ever know."

Tears rolled down Ninten's cheeks. It seemed like almost a routine now. Think sad thoughts, cry. Encounter a tragedy, cry. Reflect on tragedy, cry.

"As for me, I'll need to keep myself hydrated with all of these tears pouring out of my eyes," Ninten said with a humorless chuckle. "All right, I think that I had better head back to Onett. I can't remember if I ever said this to you when you were alive, Paula, but…" Ninten took a deep breath. "I love you. Not in the way that makes my heart leap and my knees go weak, but these feelings for you are real. I guess I'm not really _attracted_ to you… but I still love the person you became. I don't think that we would have been a good match in the long run, but I'm glad that we gave it our best. I hope that's enough."

Ninten turned around and walked away, clutching his chest. He was almost convinced that his heart itself was bleeding.

* * *

Ninten walked back to Onett, using the time to clear his head and enter a state of near meditation. Upon arriving at Onett, he searched for psionic auras that would most likely belong to his friends. He detected one in the direction of Ness' house that he guessed was Ana's, given its strength. He walked over and saw Tracy arguing with her mother while Ana stood on the sidelines.

"Tracy!" Linda said. "What do you think that you're doing? Just _listen_ to yourself. You want to leave Earth to study on Ceres at age 13? I wouldn't allow you to go normally, and with all of the conflict over in Ceres there's no way I'd let you put yourself in danger."

"Psst, Ann," Ninten said, walking up to Ana. "What's going on?"

"Just listen," Ana said.

"Mom," Tracy said. "I'm sorry, but this isn't your choice. I want to prove myself by going to Ceres and becoming a psion. I want to get revenge for Ness' death."

"Revenge is meaningless," Linda said. "You'll just get yourself killed along with your brother! Neither of you should have ever left On-Earth."

"Oh, you were about to say that I shouldn't leave Onett," Tracy said, "Despite the fact that you're _sending me away._ I clearly don't mean enough for you to keep me around, so I don't even know why you care that I'm putting myself into danger. I thought that we were done with each other."

"Tracy!" Linda's eyes wend wild with desperation. "That's not why I'm sending you away."

"Hmm?" Tracy said. "Please do tell, then. Because from my perspective, it seems an awful lot like you just don't care."

"I know that I haven't been the best mother to you recently," Linda said. "After your father died, I didn't know what to do with myself. It was a stressful time for me."

Ninten could see Tracy's muscles relax as she released a weary sigh. This was probably as much as she would back down.

"Now Ness is gone," Linda said, tears coming to her eyes. "My baby boy is…" Linda buried her face in her hands.

"I'm… sorry, mom," Tracy said.

 _"Ann,"_ Ninten said telepathically. _"Should we say something?"_

 _"Please don't."_

That voice… it didn't belong to Ana.

 _"Tracy? Is that you?"_

 _"Yeah. Please just let me handle this."_

 _"You can use psionics?"_

 _"Shut up, please."_

"How do you think I'll perform as a mother?" Linda asked. "After I lost my husband, you saw the woman that I became. Now that I've lost my son, things will only get worse. You deserve a real parent, Tracy. Not someone like me."

 _Is this what having a parent that cares about you involves?_ Ninten thought. _Warm, fuzzy feelings? It seems so strange for me, considering that neither of my parents would give me a passing thought if I died._

Ninten looked over at Ana. Even though she didn't show any signs, he guessed that she was thinking about her own parents. Adam and Megan Aniah were good people and better parents, at least from what Ninten could tell. They always treated him better than his own parents did. He wished that he had spent more time around them before they fell to their own poison in Dalaam.

"Mom," Tracy said. "You're making this so much harder than I thought it would be."

"So hard to do what?" Linda asked. "I mean everything that I said, Tracy."

"I know. That's what makes it hard." Tracy bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I can't go to Threed and leave everything I know behind to live with a person I didn't know existed before today."

"But going to _Ceres_ is fine with you?" Linda asked. "Please, Tracy, can't you see that you're not ready yet for something like that?"

 _Is this the true meaning of death?_ Ninten thought. _Does it exist to tear loved ones apart?_

"At least I have Ana," Tracy said. "She'll protect me and help me learn psionics. When I come back, mom, I'll be strong enough that we'll never have to fear anything again. I'll protect both of us."

"Ana couldn't even protect Ness," Linda said. "What makes you think that she'll do any better with you?"

Ana stiffened. She kept her face neutral, but Ninten couldn't describe the look that she shot at Linda as anything other than frigid.

"Because I, unlike Ness, will stick with Ana and won't run off to face some psionic savant," Tracy said.

 _Uh… didn't she say that she would avenge Ness' death? Wouldn't that involve fighting Lucas?_

"On Ceres, you'll never be safe," Linda said. "The top psions are struggling for power. Geldegarde Monotoli is the largely accepted president, but there are others who seek to claim the Crystal Throne."

"I'll be in a school, mom," Tracy said. "Nobody's going to want me dead."

"You still might get caught in the crossfire." Linda clenched her jaw. "Please, I already lost my husband and my son. I can't bear to lose you, too."

"Then I won't die," Tracy said. "I'll come back and care for us both. Ness always wanted to help people, no matter who they were or what they had done. I'm not nearly that noble, but I think that I can still leave my mark on the universe. There are people in Ceres who need my help, mom. In Threed, I won't be doing anyone any good."

"Tracy," Linda said, bringing her hands up to her chest. "Please don't do this. I don't think that I can take it."

"Why don't _you_ go over to dad's brother and his wife in Threed?" Tracy asked. "Maybe they could take care of you and help you through this."

"Your aunt and uncle won't want to take care of a grown woman," Linda said. "I'm on my own for now, Tracy. Please don't make that a permanent status."

"I told you, I'm not going to die on Ceres. I'm honestly sorry for this, Mom. You don't deserve to go through this." Tracy averted her gaze. "But this is my calling. I have the psionic skills and the potential to help thousands of people. That starts today."

"Please!" Linda walked up and grabbed Tracy's arm. "Don't go to Ceres. You already have such a bright future laid out for you. Don't throw that away, Tracy."

 _Psych,_ Ninten thought. _I would rather face my abusive grandfather Coran again than be in Tracy's situation right now._

"Mom…" Tracy shook Linda's hand off her arm. "I don't know if you understand, but I'll be a psion either way. Now that I have my powers, the government won't let me go free. I'll go to school on Ceres eventually either way, just like Ness. Why not start now? It's not like there will be anything for me to accomplish in Threed."

"Tracy, I…" Linda took panicked breaths. "Please, not now."

"I'm sorry, mom," Tracy said. "But staying in Eagleland and doing nothing important would hurt me just as much as you're hurting now. I _can't_ waste these two years of my life before I turn 15 and would go to Ceres normally. With Giygas and his starmen, the universe might not even be around in another two years!"

Tracy turned around. Ninten could see her shaking.

"Goodbye, mom," Tracy said. "I promise that everything will be okay once I come back."

Tracy started to walk away.

"TRACY, DON'T LEAVE ME!" Linda shouted.

Tracy stiffened but kept walking. Linda slumped to the ground.

"I… can't do it," she said. "Why did this all happen to us? What did we do to deserve this? Oh, Ness…"

"I'm sorry," Ninten said. "Although I doubt my apology means much."

Linda dragged herself back to her feet, not responding to Ninten's words.

"You," she said, pointing a finger at Ana. "You took my son, and now you're about to take my daughter too. What more do you want from us?"

"It was never my choice for any of this to happen," Ana said. "Nor was it my desire. Ness' death hit me harder than you probably believe, and it tears me apart to see this happen to your family."

"Then bring Tracy back! You have the choice to keep our family whole, Miss _Aniah._ But no, I think it's that we common folk don't matter to the daughter of two powerful psions."

"When your husband went to work on Vulcan as a manager and earned more money in a month than most people in Onett earned in a year, isn't that how they treated your family?" Ana asked. "They thought that you didn't belong in the _humble_ town of Onett. And now you're treating me the same way. It's a pity that we don't learn from others' mistakes."

"Your words mean _nothing_ to me," Linda said. "Ness… Tracy… Divine Rulers, why have I lost you both?"

"Ann," Ninten said. "Do you really think that it's okay to leave her here like this?"

"I don't know," Ana said. "My parents died a couple minutes apart, remember? I don't have experience with this."

"You can leave me," Linda said. "And you will. I don't want to see your face ever again, Ana Aniah."

"All right," Ana said. "Let's go, Ninten."

Ana walked off in the same direction that Tracy went. Ninten looked back and forth between her and Ness' mother, who was sobbing softly.

"Do you want anything from me?" Ninten said. "I don't think that I could get Tracy back, but if there's something else I could do…"

"Leave."

"Are you s-"

"Now!"

"Goodbye," Ninten said, turning away. "Try to treasure your memories with your family. At least you had a real family where everybody cared about each other."

Ninten jogged away, trying to drone out Linda's sobs.

* * *

A few hours later, Ninten found himself standing inside Fourside's astroport next to Claus, Tracy, and Ana.

"We still have no idea where Jeff is?" Claus said. "I hope that I didn't scare him off."

 _Well, maybe you shouldn't have tried to kill him,_ Ninten thought.

"We searched for hours," Ana said. "If he were anywhere in Onett or Twoson, I could have detected the psionic auras of his gadgets. I tried calling his portocom, but he didn't pick up."

"I don't even know if he has it anymore," Ninten said. "I was surprised to find that I still have mine."

"What's a portocom?" Tracy asked.

Ninten pulled out his and showed it to Tracy.

"It just looks like a purple mirror with buttons on it," Tracy said. "And it doesn't even _work_ as a mirror."

"Yeah, you can call someone and then the screen displays what's happening on the other end. It's a way to communicate with someone face to face so long as you're anywhere on the same planet."

"Huh, that's actually pretty cool," Tracy said. "And it actually sounds useful for keeping in touch."

"We should probably board the starship," Claus said. "It looks like it's about to take off soon."

Ninten looked at the screen above the gate that led to the starship. Looking at the takeoff time on the gate and comparing it to Ana's watch, he calculated that they had seven minutes before the starship blasted off.

"Could we wait for the next flight?" Tracy said. "We could spend some more time looking for Jeff."

"It's not until another week," Ninten said. "And I don't think that any of us want to hang around Earth for much longer."

"True," Tracy said. "I want to get as far away from this planet as possible."

"You hate Earth that much?" Claus said. "This place is leagues better than Aphrodite or Vulcan. Probably better than Ceres too, now that I think about it."

"I just… want to stop thinking about my mom," Tracy said. "I feel so bad for what I did to her, but I _know_ that this is the right thing to do. When Giygas strikes next, I want to be prepared."

"Well, we should probably board the ship so that you can do that," Ana said, walking towards the gate. "Maybe Jeff found his way to Fourside on his own."

 _I guess we can only hope,_ Ninten thought, following her onto the ship.

(ILH)

The four of them boarded the metal ship, climbed up a couple flights of stairs, and strapped themselves in to prepare for takeoff. Ninten was glad to only have to deal with his own fears of space travel; Ana seemed legitimately unconcerned and comforted Tracy all the way through the final countdown.

After the takeoff, the ship cruised through space at a constant velocity. Ninten unbuckled himself and left to wander the ship.

"Hey," Ana said. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Sure," Ninten said. "I mean, no, I don't mind. Tracy and Claus, do either of you want to come?"

"I'm fine," Claus said.

"Same," Tracy said, looking out the window. "I never knew that there were this many stars. Look, some of them are even red and orange. It's beautiful."

"Yeah, the atmosphere normally blocks a lot of them out," Ana said.

"Stupid atmosphere," Tracy said. "Blocking our view of the stars. I mean, what does _it_ do for us? We only need it to survive! I mean, come on atmosphere. Get your psyching act together!"

"I guess it's just us two," Ana said.

"Guess so," Ninten said, opening the door out of the cabin and walking back onto the circular staircase. "Let's see if there's anyone else we know on this ship. Maybe Mr. Agerate's taking this flight back. I mean, it's not like he could really get back otherwise, right?"

Ana followed him out of the cabin and they both walked up the stairs, their feet making synchronized _clang_ noises whenever they stepped up a stair.

"Well, Diana has a lot of tricks up her sleeve."

 _Diana? What does she have to do with any of this?_

"Wait," Ninten said. "All along, Mr. Agerate was _Diana Carpainter?_ "

"Unless he was lying," Ana said. "And I believe him. Or her. Whatever. The point is that he's probably found _some_ way to avoid this obnoxious space travel business."

By then, they had arrived at the cabin on the next floor. Ninten knocked on the door.

"Anyone in there?" Ninten said. "We're bored to death and we want to annoy you."

"That voice…" came the reply from the other side of the door. "It's not Ninten, is it?"

The door opened, revealing Kumatora's pink hair and good-natured grin. Jeff sat back further in the cabin.

"Kumatora!" Ninten said. "Where the psych were you all this time? I…" Ninten cocked his head. "Actually, there's been so much going on that I completely forgot about you."

Kumatora laughed, gesturing for Ninten and Ana to come in. Once they all got settled down, her expression turned downcast.

"I'm sorry about Ness," she said. "I didn't know him too well, but he seemed like a far better person than I'll ever be."

"He's probably a better person than any of us are," Ninten said. "No offense to any of you."

"Yeah, it's been tough," Ana said. "But I think that we're pulling through. Speaking of which, how the psych did you escape from Giygas?"

"You escaped from Giygas?" Jeff asked, raising an eyebrow. "I need to hear about this."

"There's not much to it," Kumatora said with a frown. "Darius freed me with Lucas' help. I don't know why Lucas cooperated, considering that he still seemed like an empty vessel that carries out Giygas' will."

"Darius…" Ana said. "I wonder what his game is."

"Oh, he told me," Kumatora said. "He's starting an uprising on Ceres. A peaceful one, unlike what Scaraba tried. He figures that Ceres attacked Scaraba because it was a threat, so nobody's going to come in and wipe us off the map if we don't fight back."

"And you're joining that revolution?" Ninten said.

"Actually, no. Darius told me that he has an army up his sleeve for when things get _really_ nasty, and I'll fight with them if Monotoli makes me. But for now, I think that it would be useful for me to learn more about psionics in general. I'm coming back as a student."

"I'm joining Darius, though," Jeff said, averting his gaze. "He wants me to build video cameras and record the protests along with possible brutality from the Ceresian government. That way, it's easier to spread the word. I'm done making bombs."

"Well, I hope that it turns out well," Ninten said. "We want Monotoli gone just as much as you do, Jeff. But at the same time, I don't think that we trust Darius."

"Even after he fought against Mary with us?" Jeff asked.

"There's a difference between fighting our enemy and being our friend," Ana said. "I'll jump in if I feel like I have to, but I want to keep out of Darius' reach for now. "

"You should ask Claus, though," Ninten said. "For some reason, he doesn't think that he'd be welcome back in the psionics school."

"Oh, that's right," Ana said. "People saw him turn on Ceresian psions and help what they presume to be a Scaraban psion. He's worried that Venus will turn him in."

"Venus as in the pop star?" Jeff said, raising an eyebrow.

"Apparently, she uses psionics to enhance her beauty and get a perfect voice," Ana said. "And she's under Monotoli's thumb as well. But who isn't, these days?"

"The point is that Claus might as well join your group if he's branded as an outlaw," Ninten said.

"I hope that nobody tries to turn me in for helping Zanine and the Scarabans," Kumatora said. "Only you guys know, right?"

Three nods. None of them had told anyone else.

"We'll keep your secret," Ana said. "But before we split up, we should celebrate together on Ceres. Not because we really accomplished a whole lot, but because we need it. We might not be alive in a couple of months, depending on where Giygas makes his next move."

"Right," Kumatora said. "And by capturing me he gained information on how to create life. Whatever that means."

"Yeah," Jeff said. "There's a lot to be sad about in this universe right now, so I think we need something to perk us up."

"My thoughts exactly," Ana said. "I'll book a nice restaurant. I inherited all of my parents' riches, so I'll pay for everyone."

"Ana," Ninten said. "I appreciate the thought, but is this another…"

"Another one of my facades?" Ana finished for him. "Actually, no. I really need this, and I think that we all do. I'm starting to come around, Ninten. It will just take time."

"I was afraid that Ness' death would send you even further down your spiral," Ninten said. "Do you still stab yourself with that knife?"

"Haven't had the time," Ana said with a shrug. "We'll see, I guess. And there's no guarantee that I won't spiral down and eventually overdose on a drug or something. That's part of the reason that I want to treat you all out to a nice meal. Giygas isn't my only enemy, and I want something for you to remember me by if I fall prey to my own habits."

"What?" Kumatora said. "So you _aren't_ actually little miss perfect after all?"

"You could say that," Ana said with a wry smile. "Just ask Ninten here."

"You're trying your hardest, Ann," Ninten said. "And we'll all help you through this. We'll all help _each other_ through this. We'll have to if we want to stand up to Giygas."

Three heads around Ninten nodded.

* * *

 **Regroup and back to Ceres! Even though I killed off a ton of my characters there are still so many left. And I haven't read over these drafts in over a year lol so what happens next will be as big of a surprise to me as it is to you!**

 **Claus and Jeff:** Earlier on Scaraba when Jeff was making weapons to help with the revolution, Claus tried to kill Jeff in order to stop the bombs from being made. This is largely due to how Claus' own planet Aphrodite was the site of a bombing genocide at the hands of Minerva Carpainter.

 **Ana stabbing herself:** Ana has a history of self-harm, which was discussed in earlier parts of the story. However, as a psion she can heal herself and wipe away the scars, and often cuts herself deep because of it.


	25. Chapter 21: Not a Revolution

_I suppose that I should explain about us Osohe._

 _While we consider Lorraine our queen, we treat her as more of a goddess. She created us to be similar biologically to humans. In fact, many probably would not be able to tell the difference._

 _There are key improvements over the homo sapiens species, though. We Osohe are logical and open-minded; human xenophobia is a mystery to most of us. We do not lust for power or let fear control us, which are really two sides of the same coin._

 _Indeed, for agents of chaos, we are rather orderly._

* * *

Jeff Andonuts found himself sitting at a circular table made of blue crystal that glowed in the dull lighting of the restaurant. This was the first time that he would eat at an upper-end restaurant in Ceres, and he suspected that it would be his last. Ana told him not to look at the cost of the food, but it was psyching _expensive._

"Hey, Jeff."

Jeff turned his chair around to see Claus standing over him. He let out a yelp, almost falling out of his seat. Claus sighed, although Jeff could tell that his disappointment was directed at himself rather than Jeff.

"I know that now might not be the best time to talk about this," Claus said, "But I'm really sorry for everything that I did."

"Hmm?" Tracy asked, setting down the menu to look at Jeff and Claus. "Who are you and what happened with you and Jeff?"

Claus thinned his lips into a smile that Jeff found altogether disturbing. "The name's Claus."

He went on to explain a brief overview of his past, including many facts that Jeff didn't know, such as how the pigmasks hanged his father and best friend along with how poorly he treated his brother Lucas. He ended by explaining the situation around why he tried to kill Jeff.

"Oh, so it's no wonder that poor Jeff would be scared out of his wits," Tracy said.

"I know. I wish that I could take it back, but that's not how the universe works. If I could have it all back…" Claus chuckled. "Mother, Father, Lucas, Fuel, Tazmily, Aphrodite, Ness, and my happy-go-lucky attitude from back then. If I got that all back, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"So you're Lucas' brother," Tracy said. "I'm going to kill him, you know."

"You can try," Claus said with a grunt. "You'll lose."

Tracy crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

"Jeff," Claus said. "Do you know where Ana is? She's been gone for a while."

Jeff looked at the rest of the table, spotting Ninten and Kumatora conversing with smiles on their faces while nobody sat in Ana's chair.

"That's a good question," Jeff said. "Maybe she went to the bathroom?"

"It's been thirty minutes, Jeff. Our food is about to arrive, and she left right after we ordered. Besides, she went _that_ way." Claus pointed towards the exit.

"Maybe we should go and check on her," Jeff said.

"You'd be comfortable going somewhere with me?" Claus asked, his single eye widening.

"I know that you don't mean me any harm," Jeff said. "And I know that you've changed after seeing Mary vaporize Fiven. I may not be comfortable, but my mind knows that you won't hurt me. It will be good practice, considering that we're going to be seeing a lot of each other Darius' Resistance group soon."

"Thanks," Claus said. "That means the universe to me, Jeff. I know that I can do horrible things, so thanks for giving me a second chance."

"And…" Jeff took a deep breath. "I can see where you were coming from. I wouldn't call your actions 'horrible.' There's definitely a philosophy around serving the greater good. And killing me could, logically, have led to that. But I'm glad that you don't think that way anymore. Let's go outside and search for Ana."

After leaving the restaurant, it didn't take long to find Ana. Claus detected her psionic aura nearby and led Jeff over to a gurgling stream not far from the building. Ana sat on one of the rocks, looking past the stream into the darkness of the forest beyond.

"I guess a little bit of peace and quiet is too much to ask for," Ana said, not even bothering to turn around.

"If you wanted to be left alone, you could have told us," Claus said. "We were worried about you. With Giygas' strength, who knows what you could have run into? Besides, he did swoop down and pick up both my brother and Kumatora. You could be next."

"You're right," Ana said, turning around. She smiled, but her puffy eyes told Jeff that she had been crying recently. "I'm sorry. This is what it feels like when I fall apart, I suppose."

"That's not true," Jeff said. "You're doing fine, Ana."

"Do you remember when we talked in the Scaraban prison, Jeff?" Ana asked. "Things haven't gotten better since then. They've gotten worse. It used to take all of my energy to add sugar to my voice and keep a smile on my face. Now…" Ana dug the nails of her right hand into her palm. "I can't even manage that."

Jeff flinched as soon as he saw the blood sprout from Ana's palm and drip down her arm.

"Sometimes, I feel like I can pull through," Ana said. "But now? I couldn't face the world if my life were on the line."

"Is that why you're here?" Claus asked. "Waiting it out until you feel slightly less horrible?"

"Right on." Ana laughed softly. "I take it you've been in my position before?"

"After Aphrodite exploded," Claus said. "It was worst when I went to school here. There were days when I would rather slit my own throat than drag myself out of bed. Those days came more often than I'd like to believe."

"And are you still like that?" Ana asked.

"No. I wish that I could tell you how I overcame it, but it just sort of… _happened._ Maybe it was Ninten. Those days we spent together trekking through the deadly mines of Vulcan were some of my happiest."

"Ana," Jeff said. "There's no way that I completely understand what you're going through, but I think that I feel it a little bit. With Ness gone, everything seems so _empty._ At the dinner table, I had to distract myself from the feeling that something was missing."

Ana closed her eyes, her face assuming a neutral expression. She took several deep breaths.

"I think that's it," she said, her eyes still closed. "There's this nagging feeling that something is _wrong._ No matter what I do, I can't escape from it. That's because it's part of me, not something in the outside world."

"I'm sorry," Jeff said. "Do you want us to leave you alone?"

"I think that I'm ready to come back." Ana stood up, wiping the wet dirt off of her robe. "I don't know why, but all of the colors here seem brighter than they did a moment ago. The sounds are more layered."

"So you feel better?" Claus asked.

"Still terrible," Ana said. "But yes, better."

"Claus and I picked up new portocoms," Jeff said. "So feel free to call us whenever you want. We'll give you our numbers."

Jeff listed off the contact information for their portocoms and Ana wrote it down on the back of hers.

"Mine's special," Claus said. "Jeff picked it up from Dr. Andonuts' lab. It can shrink down to the size of a coin if I want it to, so I should be able to sneak it in wherever I go."

"I'll take your word for it," Ana said. "Hopefully, the others didn't miss us too much."

"Miss me?" Claus asked with a snort. "I don't know if that's possible, Ana. I'm sure they'll look forward to seeing you, but my face will drain them of all excitement."

Ana laughed and started walking back towards the building.

"Thanks, guys," she said. "I guess I don't always have to be the strong one."

* * *

The day after classes started, Kumatora approached Ninten in the cafeteria.

"I almost forgot about these walls with the obnoxious swirls of color," Kumatora said. "I mean, look at that! Green, orange, and yellow all right next to each other, surrounded by blue and purple. My eyes bleed when I look at that. They're _bleeding,_ Ninten!"

"Great," Ninten said. "I almost forgot about that too. Thanks a lot for reminding me."

He swatted Kumatora on the shoulder in a playful fashion. Kumatora laughed, not even flinching away from Ninten's smack. He wondered if she even felt pain.

"So how are classes coming along?" she asked.

"It's been a _day,_ " Ninten said. "Although I saw that in your basic psionics class, you looked like you were asleep when you went through the basic psionic powers."

"I'm sorry that this school is so easy," Kumatora said, turning her nose up and sniffing. "I mean, even _Tracy_ got the hang of it, and she's been manifesting powers for less than a week."

"That's not normal. Tracy's a prodigy, although I'm not sure if she knows it."

"Well, you didn't appear to have any trouble with it, either."

Ninten shrugged.

"I have outside experience," he said. "I wonder what happened to Mr. Agerate, though. He probably would have let us do some pretty cool stuff. Maybe they fired him because he disappeared for weeks at a time with no real notice."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Kumatora said. "I can't believe that weasel was actually _Diana Carpainter."_

Ninten grimaced.

"You might want to keep your voice down," he said.

"Why? If he's fired already then what does it matter?"

"Just… we probably don't want everyone to know. It could cause a scare."

"True. Speaking of which, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Oh, this will be good," Ninten said, rolling his eyes.

Kumatora smiled.

"You got it! I want you to come with me somewhere. I've been meaning to investigate it further for a while, but I got wrapped up in the Scaraban conflict."

"Okay," Ninten said, nodding slowly. "Where is this place? If it's somewhere stupid, I'm going to hit you again."

"The chimera labs," Kumatora said.

"You mean… they exist?" Ninten said.

"Yeah. I guess that doesn't qualify as a stupid location, since my shoulder remains unswatted."

Ninten smacked her shoulder for a second time.

"So it _does_ qualify as a stupid location?" Kumatora asked.

"No, but after what you said I couldn't help myself. Well, I totally _could_ have helped myself, but I chose not to."

Kumatora rolled her eyes.

"You're horrible," she said.

"Duly noted. So the chimera labs, huh? You said that you wanted to investigate it further. I assume you've been there before, then?"

"Yeah. I just want to check it out, but I could use some backup."

"That… doesn't make me want to help," Ninten said. "If it's dangerous for you to need a second person, you should probably pick someone more capable than me."

"Oh, I tried," Kumatora said. "Ana refused me."

"Claus?"

"He and Jeff are gone to work with the Resistance. Did you miss the memo?"

"Oh, right. I forgot."

Kumatora swatted Ninten on the shoulder.

"That's for being forgetful," she said, wearing an insufferable smile.

"Hey, you're not supposed to hit me back!" Ninten said. "I could call the cops."

"And they would laugh you out of the room," Kumatora said.

"That's not the point."

"I think that it is." She swatted Ninten again. "That's for missing the _real_ point."

"Okay, this isn't fair," Ninten said. "I'm just a weak, measly human and you're an Osohe."

"Good thing I'm egalitarian," Kumatora said with a wink.

"So back to the chimera labs," Ninten said. "You really have nobody else to go with?"

"You make it sound like a date or something," Kumatora said, rolling her eyes. "No. Nobody that I trust."

"You trust _me?_ You must be a lot dumber than I thought. Aren't Osohe supposed to have superior intelligence to us humans?"

"I can never tell how much of your attitude is an act, Ninten. Do you treat everyone this way?"

"Ann, sort of. Most people, not really. I figured that you would appreciate someone who just says the first thing that comes to their mind."

"Well, you were wrong." Kumatora tried to keep her face neutral, but a smile shone through. "Okay, I'll admit that this is entertaining. But you should really aim higher than annoying me."

"All right," Ninten said. "From now on, I'll be respectful Ninten."

"Good luck keeping _that_ one up."

"You're not exactly helping." Ninten looked around the cafeteria to make sure nobody was listening. "Man, you can say anything and these people just don't give a psych, huh? Ceresian culture is weird. But anyways, I'll go with you to the chimera labs, so long as you promise to protect me with your radiant Osohe powers."

"Radiant Osohe powers?" Kumatora said. "Do you mean psionics?"

"Yeah, that thing. I hear that it's good at keeping people alive."

Kumatora rolled her eyes.

"How can you still be so obnoxious without poking fun at me?" her face softened. "But seriously, Ninten. Thanks for coming. I think it's you who trusts me too much."

"You're welcome," Ninten said. "Now, let's get out of here and find a nice place for you to teleport us over there. I'm not sure if you know, but I _hate_ walking."

* * *

"This is it," Kumatora said. "The chimera labs. Do you remember that awful substitute teacher that we had? Ms. Monotoli?"

"How could I forget?" Ninten said. "She picked on Paula like some common bully."

"She was more or less in charge of this place," Kumatora said. "But then Mr. Agerate killed her, apparently. I want to see if the chimeras are still active."

" _Still_ active? What sorts of chimeras have you seen before?"

"Probably not what you expect. Wolves that are more aggressive, stronger, and contain a viper's venom in their saliva. Hordes of spiders that are the size of small plates."

Ninten shivered.

"I _hate_ spiders," he said. "Like, seriously. I joke about a lot of things, but I'll legitimately run away at the sight of _one_ spider the size of a dinner plate."

"Millions of years ago before reptiles took over the planet, there were scorpions the size of large dogs," Kumatora said. "Well, their legs were shorter, but their bodies were about the same size."

"Stop," Ninten said. "Please. You're giving me nightmares while I'm still awake."

"All right," Kumatora said. "I'll go back to treating you like a lost child."

"Thank you! I actually _liked_ you when you saw me that way back in the Deep Darkness."

"You really don't have any pride at all, do you?" Kumatora asked.

"Nah. It was beaten out of me a long time ago."

He meant the words as a joke, but Kumatora's face turned sympathetic.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Are you ready to head in?"

 _I guess I never really had any parents to look after me, so I can get clingy._

"Yeah," Ninten said. "Let's go."

Kumatora led Ninten through a field of overgrown grass. Ninten kicked aside numerous cans and other pieces of trash without seeing them. He looked at the labs, which consisted of white walls stuck loosely together that looked like they were about to fall apart.

"That doesn't look like it meets regulations," Ninten said.

Kumatora snorted.

"That's what happens when you have underground government research on something like chimeras," she said.

"You sound like a conspiracy theorist."

"Except that I'm actually right."

Kumatora walked up to a door leading to the inside of the labs and swung it open. Darkness cloaked most of what lay inside.

"Give me light," Kumatora muttered.

Her eyes radiated light in a way that looked almost holy. Ninten didn't spot anything of note: only an array of broken beakers, dusty lab stations, and beakers filled with chemicals he didn't want to mess with.

"Heh," Ninten said. "So is this one of your special Osohe powers?"

"You do know that all psions can make their eyes light up like this, right?" Kumatora said. "Let's go."

Ninten followed Kumatora in and closed the door behind him. He took a deep breath, although he couldn't quite stop his heart from racing. He heard something slither behind him and let out a yelp.

Kumatora was there before Ninten realized what was happening. A snake lunged at Ninten, its fangs wide open, but Kumatora caught it in her hands. The snake twisted and flailed in an attempt to bite Kumatora's arm, but she tore off its head with her bare hands and tossed it away.

"Yeah, these chimeras get aggressive," she said. "The plus side is that we're psions, so I could have healed the poison right up even if the snake had bitten you."

"Thanks?" Ninten said, his voice shaking. "Call weapon."

A sword made out of transparent, green ectoplasm appeared in his hands.

"I'll be ready next time," he said.

Kumatora smiled.

"When you're not joking around, you actually look quite determined," she said. "It suits you well."

Right then, Ninten heard slithering from all different directions. He spotted dozens of snakes approach from either side of the hallway. Ninten narrowed his eyes and focused on the snakes coming towards him. Just a little closer…

"I guess they sensed that one of their brethren died," Kumatora said. "Got any ideas?"

Now.

"Ectoplasmic field!" Ninten shouted, and the entire floor around him became sticky.

While the sticky goo kept Kumatora and Ninten from moving their feet, the snakes had even worse luck. The squirmed in an attempt to escape, but none of them had the strength to bust through the ectoplasm.

"Let's go!" Ninten shouted.

He stabbed the snakes through the head one by one. He heard Kumatora manifest PK fire and felt the heat at his back. He imagined the snakes burning away on Kumatora's side as he stabbed snakes over on his end. Before long, all that remained of the snakes were a pile of corpses.

"Nice job!" Kumatora said. "And you said that you weren't competent."

"Eh, I got lucky." He muttered an incantation and the ectoplasm vanished. "What's next, chief?"

"Follow me," Kumatora said. "And keep your ears open for more of these snakes. You're doing great so far."

Ninten nodded, walking a few steps behind Kumatora as she maneuvered through hallways and rooms. Eventually, she arrived at a room with dozens of wolves locked in tiny cells. They bashed against the metal bars when Kumatora and Ninten entered.

"So these things are chimeras?" Ninten asked.

"Yep, the same wolves that I talked about earlier. Stand back."

Ninten took a couple of steps until he was out of the room. Kumatora took a deep breath.

"PK Starstorm," she said.

White balls of energy burned holes through the ceiling as they entered above. They floated into cells and exploded, leaving behind nothing but wolf guts and metal scraps. All over the room, the process repeated itself, although some balls of energy created bigger explosions than others. Ninten watched in a mixture of wonder and horror as Kumatora systematically turned the room into rubble.

By the time she was finished, the walls and ceiling completely collapsed, leaving the passage blocked.

"They didn't have much of a life, anyways," Kumatora said. "It makes you think, though. What if you were programmed to do nothing but fight? Would you even really be an individual at that point?" Kumatora shook her head. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"I've seen worse," Ninten said. "But I'll admit that wasn't pleasant."

Kumatora offered a weak smile.

"Well, these labs are still operational," she said. "It looks like someone fed those wolves, despite all of the snakes roaming around. Maybe I'll explore some more of this later on my own. Are you ready to head back?"

"I've never been more ready in my life," Ninten said. "This place freaks me out."

"You're not the only one. Teleport."

* * *

It took Jeff a day to determine the location of the Resistance from what Darius had told him. He found himself standing in the shadier parts of Ceres, looking around at the cracked windows and garbage-filled streets. For once, he was glad to have Claus at his side. Despite their youth, Claus' breastplate and greatsword would scare off any bandits.

Eventually, it was Claus that detected the aura of psions nearby. Darius had specified the exact part of town where the leaders of the Resistance met, but it hadn't occurred to Jeff that the Resistance would keep itself well-hidden. Obviously it would, as it would try not to lend itself to detection, and Jeff cursed himself for not thinking of the roadblock sooner.

Still, Claus detected psions' auras, so they would likely find the Resistance either way. Claus walked up to an unassuming building that looked abandoned and knocked on the door. A man walked up and opened the door, scanning Jeff's and Claus' faces.

"What's a psion doing here?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. Looking at Jeff, "And you have enchanted gear. Nothing about either of you makes sense."

"Are you part of the Resistance?" Claus asked.

"Word's gotten out that quickly?" the man said. "I mean, I guess that's good, but psych."

"A friend told me," Jeff said. "And I wanted to join. He said that the Resistance would peacefully protest Ceres' wars and Monotoli's position in office."

The man grunted.

"It's true that Kim wants us not to fight back, even when the bastards come down on us. At least, not for a time."

"Not for a time?" Jeff said.

"Well, you two already know a lot, so we can tell you a bit more. Follow me."

"You won't trap us anywhere," Claus said. "If you try, I'll slice my way out."

"Oh ho!" the man flashed a toothy grin. "Well, we'll see what Kim says. I'm Frederick, by the way. I was an empirist psion before our movement fizzled out."

"You wanted to put an emperor back on the throne?" Jeff said.

"Considering the state of the universe, I'm surprised that so many people blame me for it," Frederick said. "Now _come in,_ before someone sees us bickering and gets curious."

Jeff and Claus walked into the dilapidated house. The floor was covered with dirt; bugs walked across walls and into shattered vases. The entire room reeked of mold.

"Nice place," Claus said.

"I needed somewhere to crash," Frederick said. "Rent on Ceres, man. Oh, and I'm a wanted criminal. Let's keep moving."

Frederick led Jeff and Claus into another room, where a television displayed a reporter talking about the situation on Vulcan.

 _"We're starting to see groups similar to the empirists sprout up,"_ the reporter said, his voice filled with static. _"Except that they claim to worship only the alien Giygas. They're crueler than the empirists ever were, taking entire towns off the map by killing anyone that they could find."_

"Psych," Claus said. "It's gotten worse, hasn't it?"

"Right," Frederick said. "We may want to put an emperor back on the throne, but not all of us were outright hostile towards Ceres, and _certainly_ not towards our own people. Our leader Boras promised to build a better path, but then Ceres declared war on us and Boras died to his own grandson."

"If it makes you feel any better, Ninten's really sorry," Claus said.

"I never understood that," Jeff said with a frown. "Why did President Carpainter declare war on Vulcan after Boras took the reins as the leader of the empirist movement? He seemed better than his predecessor."

"Of course he was," Frederick said. "He was likable, which gave him a real shot at commanding the voice of the public. That's why Ceres took him out and scattered us." Frederick chuckled. "But they just grew more hate and rage. This new band of Giygas-worshippers is _their_ creation, and now the entire planet of Vulcan is paying the price."

Jeff wouldn't go as far as saying that Ceres _created_ these new extremists, but he could see how their intervention sparked rage.

"But that's still not where we're going," Frederick said. "Let's keep walking."

Jeff followed Frederick into another room where a ladder descended into a hole in the ground. Frederick climbed down, and Jeff looked over to Claus. The ginger shrugged and went down after Frederick. Jeff sighed and scaled down the ladder last. He appeared in a hallway that led to a room with cushioned chairs and sturdy tables.

"This is where we meet," Frederick said. "I don't think that Kim is here yet."

Jeff walked behind Frederick, eventually arriving at the room. Other hallways jutted out; Jeff could only guess where they went. He spotted another man sitting down and looking at a portocom. Jeff craned over to see what the mirror-like device displayed, but due to the angle he couldn't see much of anything.

"Would you mind hanging on a sec?" the man asked. "Frederick just came in with a psion and a boy wearing enchanted gear. They probably don't want me to keep them waiting."

"Sure," said the voice on the other end. "Go and see what they're up to."

The man set the portocom down on a table and stood up, looking at Claus and Jeff.

"Hello," he said. "It's Claus, right?"

"Yeah. And you're… Walter?"

The man nodded.

"Wait," Jeff said. "You two already know each other?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that?" Frederick said. "Yeah, Walter and I met Claus back in Winters. He was with… what was that kid's name?"

"Ninten," Walter said, rolling his eyes. "Only the emperor's heir that _you_ wanted to stick back on the throne." Turning to Jeff, "I apologize for how my companion may come off. Who might you be?"

"Jeff Andonuts. Yes, I'm the son of Dr. Andonuts. No, I don't know him that well, so don't bother asking me anything about him."

"Well, I'm sorry for your loss, then," Walter said. "I was sad to see Dr. Andonuts go. Such a great inventor… judging by the gadgets that I don't recognize, am I to guess that you're following in his footsteps?"

"Indeed," Jeff said. "That is why Darius recruited me to the Resistance."

Walter waved his hand dismissively.

"You make us sound like some exclusive band of rebels."

"Err… you aren't?"

"I guess Darius didn't do a good job of explaining all of this." He looked back at his portocom. "Hey, Jang-Li. Are you hearing all of this?"

"Yes," came a voice from the portocom. "And I would very much like to meet Jeff and Claus."

Walter picked up the portocom and pointed the screen at Claus and Jeff. In the screen, Jeff saw a Dalaamian man in a part of Ceres that he didn't recognize.

"Hello," the man in the screen said. "I am Kim Jang-Li, and I wish to end Ceres' abuse of the universe. You were both in Scaraba when Giygas' minion wiped out Fiven, yes?"

"We were," Claus said. "Do you work with Giygas like Darius does?"

 _Gah,_ Jeff said. _I'm pretty sure that's not a great way to talk to the leader of a resistance group._

"I do not," Kim said. "And I think that we'll have a better chance to defeat Giygas if Ceres isn't coming down with an iron fist on the rest of the universe."

Jeff cleared his throat before Claus could say anything else.

"Darius requested that I develop video cameras to film the protests," Jeff said. "And I have a couple with me. I can make more without too much trouble, if you need them."

Kim smiled.

"Darius was wise to recruit you, then," he said. "Yes, we can use as many video recorders as you can make. When the time is right, we need to get the word out to as many people as we can about our mission. If Ceres sees how we can band together and protest these needless wars, and they see how the government treats us…"

"It will lead to sympathy," Jeff said. "We win over the public without raising a sword."

"Exactly," Kim said. "I'm glad that you understand. If we fight, people will fear us. If we stand and bleed, people will join us. We resist but not revolt."

"So how does this all work?" Claus said. "I had better not be joining some sort of cult here."

"I pick days to protest," Kim said. "Whoever wants to come is free to show up. People can come and go as they wish. This is about involving regular people, not psions like us or intellectuals like Jeff. We need to make it easy for anyone to join."

"Sounds like more of a social movement than a Resistance," Jeff said. "What if Monotoli just unleashes his army on you and tries to wipe out everyone? What if he tries to instill fear back into people's hearts?"

"Then I have the entire military of Dalaam at my back," Kim said. "I hope that it does not come to that, but I will storm Ceres if Monotoli unleashes the destructive wrath of warfare. We will stand by and accept police brutality, but we cannot let ourselves go extinct."

"By the same notion of forming a loose, general community," Walter said. "We are not super well connected. We do not lodge together or engage in professions together. We are merely people with individual lives but have the same, collective interests in mind."

"Maybe we can get some people at school to help us," Claus said. "Spread the word."

"Anyone who can join is welcome," Kim said. "My goal is to put the power back in the hands of the common people. We are here to expose the cruelty and the contempt behind the Crystal Throne. They cannot beat us all if we stand together."

"Unless someone calls that bitch back in to erase a city," Claus muttered.

 _That bitch? Oh, he must mean Mary._

"Let us hope that they do not resort to that," Kim said. "And again, if they use their psions and fight us in earnest, my soldiers will protect the people of Ceres. It is a risky time to be protesting, but it is a crucial one. With Giygas' power growing, we cannot suffer more pointless wars."

"Agreed," Jeff said. "So when's the first protest?"

"In exactly a week from now," Kim said. "Right in front of the government capitol building. You can give any video cameras you produce to Walter or Frederick."

"We're moving out of here soon," Walter said. "But we'll swing by your school before the protest. Do you have a portocom?"

Jeff nodded, and he proceeded to exchange portocom numbers with Walter.

"I hope to see you there," Kim said. "Trust me, I'll be in the crowd cheering just like anyone else. At the end of the day, I'm just a person who's worried about the direction that Ceres is headed in. That's all I need to be to give myself a voice."

"Thanks," Jeff said. "I hope to see you there too, Mr. Kim. Maybe we can even grab the media's attention."

"That is a good starting goal," Kim said. "Goodbye, Jeff and Claus. It's nice to see two young people like you who care so much about this universe."

"I think that it's the least we can do," Claus said.

"Especially after the destruction that we caused," Jeff added.

* * *

 **This chapter's a bit scattered, but we got a lot of stuff to cover and sometimes that's just how it rolls. Hopefully you enjoy it anyway!**

 **Chimera Labs:** This was the focus for Jeff's story in the first half of part 2 of this fic. They learned about a lot of Minerva Carpainter's scary experiments from it and now Kumatora is recruiting Ninten to help clean things up.

 **Frederick and Walter:** Minor recurring characters, I throw them in when I don't know what else to do lol.

 **Kim Jang-Li:** Brother of General Kim, but as you can see here a lot more friendly. He was also the guy who ran the refugee camps in Scaraba for the people who escaped when Mary destroyed Fiven. Note that Korean names have the family name first, so if he were in America "Kim" would be his last name.

 **Review Response: Guest:** Whoops didn't see this before updating with the previous chapter so I'll do it now! The reason I can update so quickly right now is that I already have all the drafts written and I'm not going through super major revamps with the editing in general. Like I'll fix ideas and characters on a chapter by chapter basis but I'm not planning on rewriting entire arcs or anything like that. So yeah hopefully I can keep up the pace! :) I'm glad that you like Ana's character! She's going through a lot right now but we will get to see plenty of her in the future, so stay tuned. :)


	26. Chapter 22: All Recorded

_However, the biggest difference between us and the humans is that we cannot reproduce. We still are divided into two different sexes, and we still possess the reproductive organs of those sexes, but we cannot bear children._

 _Thus, we rely on our queen to gift them to us. We still have the same parental desires as the humans that we are based off of, and working through Lorraine was the only way to achieve that goal._

 _That was where the problems started._

* * *

The next week passed by in a blur for Ana. She went to classes, did homework, and trained Tracy on the side. Everything should have been normal.

Indeed, Tracy was making rapid progress. In just a week, she had learned the basics of PK attacks and healing psionics. When Ana saw her skill with creating flames and electricity, she thought that Tracy must be a kinetist like her. But after seeing her skill with healing… she wasn't quite sure where Tracy's strongest area was. Maybe she was good with _all_ of them.

Ana was honest with Tracy about her skills.

"But I only just learned the basics of two areas of psionics," Tracy said. "That doesn't seem like much."

"It takes most people a month to learn the basic of _one_ discipline of psionics. However, you shouldn't take that as a reason to slack off."

"I know. I'll get stronger, Ana. Just watch me."

Ana promised herself that she wouldn't make that mistake with Tracy. If the girl needed a rest, she got a rest. If she wanted to end training early, she ended training early. But Ana always made sure that Tracy understood the consequences.

"Feel free to rest," Ana would say. "But remember what you came here for. If you really can't push yourself harder, I totally get it. But if you can draw on that little bit of strength that you didn't even know you had…" Ana would smile, looking into Tracy's deep, blue eyes. "That's what separates the good psions from the great."

More often than not, Tracy pushed herself further.

As Ana reasoned with herself earlier, it should have felt normal. She was back in school, surrounded by friends, and learning at the incredibly slow pace that she was used to.

Yet somehow, life in that week couldn't have felt more _wrong._

She couldn't quite place a finger on why. She went through the same motions as during the first semester, but somehow everything she did made her want to scream in frustration. She couldn't stand textbooks, she couldn't stand classes, and she couldn't even stand the noisy cafeteria.

Naturally, she kept this information hidden from her friends. It wasn't _their_ fault that she was so irritable, and it wasn't really their problem. She could handle this like a big girl.

It took her a few days to realize the missing factor in the equation.

Ana had never really _liked_ classes or books. In fact, she might have lived on edge during the first semester more than she remembered. But whenever she felt overwhelmed or frustrated, she could just look into Ness' earnest face and feel her anger fade away like the morning mists under the heat of the sun.

She could still _see_ that smile of his, the way that he looked at her like he wasn't sure if he was doing something wrong yet still was thankful to have her there. Ness had needed her, Ana realized, and it felt good to be needed.

"In the end," Ana said to herself when nobody was around. "I think that I needed him more than he needed me."

How could one boy impact her life in such a profound way? A boy that she couldn't even bring herself to love, no less. She asked Ninten that question and found that he felt the same way as she did about Ness. He said that life on Ceres was annoying him with its drudgery, and he didn't have Ness' caring attitude to soothe away his stress.

She received similar responses from Jeff and Claus, who apparently _were_ enrolling in school after all. They agreed that Ness' absence was a gaping hole in their group mechanics. None of them felt happy. None of them felt complete.

 _Did he know?_ Ana wondered. _Did he ever know just how much he meant to us? Did he know how lost we would be without him?_

Ana contemplated that question for days.

Then the day of the first protest arrived.

* * *

"Wow," Jeff said, looking at the crowd in front of the people standing in front of the purple crystal of the government capitol. "It looks like we're not nearly alone."

"You gave the cameras to Walter when he stopped by, right?" Claus asked.

Jeff nodded. He had managed to produce a few dozen after enlisting Diana's help to gather materials for him. He wondered where Diana was now. She was always off doing _something,_ which made Jeff suspect that she was just the kind of person who couldn't sit in one place for long. The warm feeling that rose in his heart whenever he thought about her still confounded him. Was this what affection felt like? Parental love? Jeff had never really known either emotion.

He followed Claus as the ginger walked towards the crowd. People chanted "End the wars!" over and over again, to the point that Jeff felt compelled to join.

 _My individuality is dripping away, despite what Kim said,_ Jeff thought. _When faced with a crowd, I am either with them or against them._

Jeff looked around at the people protesting and was surprised to find that most people were regular, Ceresian citizens.

"End the wars!"

"End the wars!"

"Resign, Monotoli!"

"Look," Claus said, pointing to areas outside of the protest square. "Your cameras. People are filming this."

Jeff swelled with pride as he followed Claus' finger over to the cameramen and camerawomen. _He_ had done this; _he_ had assisted this social movement in a real way. Once people heard about these anti-war and anti-Monotoli protests, Jeff hoped that more would join. The people of Ceres _could_ band together and control their fates; they weren't as beaten down as the Vulcanese or the Scarabans.

"End the wars!"

"End the wars!"

"Resign, Monotoli!"

People held up signs that depicted bombs being dropped on Scaraba and Vulcan with red "X"s through the entire picture. Others showed Monotoli's corporate greed by picturing him stuffing gold coins into his pocket and backstabbing men in business suits.

"I should have made a sign like that," Claus said. "It's not like I had anything better to do while you were off making those cameras."

"Well, you had classes," Jeff said.

Horses and automobiles belonging to police stopped in front of the square. Cops dismounted and got out of their cars, wearing gleaming plate armor like the knights of old. They carried clubs in their hand and swords at their hilts.

"Psych," Claus said. "Plate armor for every one of them? Talk about a waste of taxpayer money."

Someone tapped on Jeff's shoulder; he turned to the side to see Darius waving at him.

"How are you doing, Jeff?" Darius asked, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd. "Thank you for making the video cameras for us. Whatever the police do, the entire planet of Ceres will soon know their true nature."

"You're expecting them to lash out," Claus said.

"We are," Darius said.

"You're _hoping_ that they lash out," Claus said.

"That's taking it a little far. Maybe if they treat us well then we _shouldn't_ protest against the government. Either way, their actions shall affect our opinion of Monotoli's rule."

Jeff looked as the police officers started to move in on the crowd.

"I guess we're about to find out," Jeff said.

* * *

"Kumatora," Ninten said, looking out at the crowd of people protesting against Monotoli. "Do you think that this is wise?"

"When have I ever considered what would be wise?" Kumatora shot back. "These people are railing against a broken system that's led to entire cities being destroyed. I'll take part in this, Ninten.

Kumatora ran into the crowd. Ninten swore under his breath and followed her.

"Greetings, maggots," came a voice that boomed across the square. "This is Police Captain George Montague."

 _George Montague,_ Ninten thought. _Captain Strong's replacement. I wonder if he's related to Gerardo at all._

"Kumatora!" Ninten shouted, spotting a tuft of pink hair and running over.

"You don't need to follow me, you know," Kumatora said. "I can take care of myself."

 _Can you?_ Ninten thought. _Jeff explained to me what's probably going to happen next, and I need to be here to restrain you._

"Now," George Montague said. "I'll give you pests a chance. You can either leave this square and get back to your own sorry lives or we'll start arresting people."

The protestors shouted at and booed Captain Montague. Not one of them backed down and left.

"All right, I gave you worms a chance," Montague said. "Go get 'em."

The police officers charged in, brandishing batons. One of the protestors threw a raw egg at the cop, and the officer sneered before grabbing the protestor by the shirt collar and beating him with the baton.

"Oh, that does it," Kumatora said, fire sprouting in her hands. "Go ahead and beat up on the helpless. It's all fun and games until someone can do the same to you!"

Ninten grabbed Kumatora's wrist, holding it back.

"If you attack them," Ninten said, "You ruin the point of this entire protest. All of those injuries will mean _nothing._ "

"What," Kumatora said, "Are you talking about?"

"Look," Ninten said. "Just wait and look."

The police ran in, warding off demonstrators and occasionally smashing batons into the louder civilians. The protestors shouted and waved signs, while many of them backed off.

Not one of them tried to fight back.

"What the psych?" Kumatora said. "Fight, dummies!"

"You still don't get it?" Ninten asked. "We're recording this entire protest. If the police attack us and we fight back, we create a divide. We turn ourselves into a group just as willing to fight as they are. It will be hard for people to choose between the two."

More screams sounded. More protestors fell. More protestors ran.

"But if we remain peaceful while the police resort to violence, who is everyone going to see as the good guy?"

Kumatora growled. "Darius _wanted_ this to happen. Psych him."

"So if you blast them with your psionics, it ruins everything," Ninten said. "It would put a stain on this movement that could never quite be scrubbed off. That's why I followed you."

"Thanks for reining me in," Kumatora said. "I guess that means I can't even take care of this guy, right?"

A police officer charged at Ninten and Kumatora. The other protestors stumbled and ran away, leaving the two teenagers alone.

"We really shouldn't," Ninten said.

"You're under arrest," the police officer said, swinging his club at Ninten with murder in his eyes.

By reflex, Ninten danced out of the way. It helped that the swing was clumsy and poorly aimed.

"We should go, Kumatora," Ninten said.

"Or we could stay and get arrested," Kumatora said. "Help fill up the jails. Play our own part."

Ninten ducked under a club swing aimed at his head. The police officer cursed.

"Yeah, but didn't you need to explore the Chimera Labs more?" Ninten asked. "You can't exactly do that in prison. I admire your willingness to sacrifice your freedom, but you'd be more useful to Ceres free."

"I guess," Kumatora said, stepping to the side and dodging a downward strike from the cop's club. "Yeah, let's get out of here. I can always get arrested later if I want to."

Ninten and Kumatora ran away, basically ignoring the cop that chased after them.

(ILH)

"Well," Jeff said. "We're surrounded."

A group of cops closed in on people surrounding Jeff and Claus. One of the police officers beat down on a protestor with his baton until the civilian was on the ground whimpering.

"The same will happen to you if you don't act nice and follow along," the cop said. "You're all under arrest."

"Well, I'm fine with this," Claus muttered. "It's not like I was doing much with my life.

"And you still have that shrunken portocom hidden, right?" Jeff asked.

Claus smiled, tapping on his eye patch.

"They'll never check here."

The cops walked over and placed handcuffs on the protestors. They ran out less than halfway through the small crowd of people, and they resolved to prod the remaining protestors like animals all the way over to the prison.

"I wonder what they'll do when they run out of prison space," Jeff said.

"That is the plan," Darius said, walking over to Jeff. "They cannot arrest everyone who joins this movement. Sooner or later, they'll have to come up with a solution." Darius' eyes twinkled. "A compromise."

"Unless Monotoli issues a full-scale attack like he did on Scaraba," Jeff said.

"We are prepared," Darius said. "Dalaam's military is a match for Ceres', believe it or not. Plus, Giygas may help us to take out Ceresian psions."

"I don't think that we want his 'help' again," Jeff said.

"He's going to do his thing either way," Darius said. "We're just trying to do what we can and hope that he doesn't wipe us all out like before."

"That's got to be the most depressing strategy I've ever heard," Claus said.

"Well, what can you do?" Darius asked.

* * *

"Tracy!" Ana shouted, looking out at the mass of protestors. "Oh, psych psych _psych._ "

Ana looked in the note in her hand that she found posted on Tracy's dormitory room.

 _Ana,_

 _I stand with the protestors today. Monotoli's actions in Scaraba brought about Ness' death, in a way. I'm sorry if you don't approve, but this is what I need to do. Hopefully you'll understand._

 _-Tracy._

Ana looked back up, scanning the crowd for a sign of Tracy's psionic aura. Tracy said that she hoped Ana "understood," but the only thing to understand about this situation is that it was stupid to get involved. The police were arresting people left and right. It was all well and good that Tracy wanted to exercise her voice, but this was a real movement that led to real consequences.

Ana shook her head and dashed into the crowd, muscling her way through protestors.

 _Once again, everything's about you. It doesn't matter that Tracy feels passionate about this protest, it only matters that you don't want to deal with the stress of tracking her down if she goes missing._

It would be a lot easier to ignore that voice in her head if it didn't make so much sense. Ana darted between police officers, taking a couple blows from their clubs that she barely felt.

"Tracy!" Ana shouted. "Where the psych…"

There. Ana detected a psionic aura that belonged to a relatively weak psion. Ana ran closer. As she approached the aura, she could make it out better, eventually recognizing it as Tracy's. Thank the Divine Rulers that she had spent enough time around Tracy to know her aura's signature inside and out.

"Tracy!" Ana shouted for what felt like the hundredth time, running towards the aura. "There you are!"

"Ana?" Tracy said, standing up on her tiptoes to see above the crowd. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting your ass out of this place," Ana said.

The hurt look on Tracy's face made Ana hesitate, but only for a moment. Tracy needed to get _out_ as soon as possible. Ana growled and ran up, grabbing Tracy's arm.

"Ana…" Tracy's eyes narrowed in anger. "You're not my mom. You don't have to do this."

"Teleport."

The world faded around Ana, although she still held onto Tracy's arm. They appeared back in Ana's dormitory room. Tracy tried to shake Ana's hand off of her arm, but Ana's grip had restrained a lot worse than a 13 year old girl. She released Tracy on _her_ accord, sighing and clenching her jaw.

"Okay," Tracy said. "I understand why you're mad, Ana, but I needed to do that."

"Do what?" Ana asked. "Go out and shout with everyone else? They don't need you."

"You make the protest sound silly," Tracy said. "Like something… below a psion's station. I hope that's not what you meant."

"I was fine with Claus going out there, wasn't I?" Ana asked. "It's different for you because you have your whole life ahead of you. Claus honestly wouldn't care much if those cops tortured him to death. Would you feel the same way?"

"That's what makes it a risk, Ana," Tracy said. "That's what makes it _real._ I'm ready to sacrifice everything to stand up for what's right. Can you honestly side with Monotoli on this one, Ana? He's vermin, and everyone knows it."

"I'm not denying that," Ana said. "But didn't you want to learn psionics? Become stronger and fight Lucas?"

"I do," Tracy said. "But I'm willing to risk all of that to participate in this social revolution. Jeff calls it the Resistance, but I don't think we're really resisting anything. Monotoli and his cronies are the ones resisting the will of the people."

Tracy turned on the television in Ana's room. After surfing through channels, she stumbled upon a news program that showed footage of police officers beating peaceful protestors.

"We're exposing them, Ana," Tracy said. "And that means that we have to be true to ourselves as well. You said that Ness always wanted to help, even when he put himself in danger. Well, this is my way of helping."

"Tracy…" Ana drew a shaky breath. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I understand where you're coming from, but…"

"But what?"

 _Me,_ Ana thought. _Always about me._

"I'm not the person you think I am," Ana said. "You see me as someone strong, someone who bends before they break. That couldn't be further from the truth."

"What do you mean?" Tracy asked.

"I'm so lost," Ana said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "After Ness died, I just…" Ana buried her face in her hands. "I don't know how much longer I can take this, Tracy. Life is just so _painful,_ even when it shouldn't be. If I were to lose you…"

"So you care about me in that way?" Tracy asked. "As a real person?"

"I should, shouldn't I?" Ana said. "I don't even psyching know. It could just be me wanting to prove that I can keep _someone_ safe, and you're the person to fill that role. I'm sorry, Tracy. I wanted to support you and I wanted to help you, but…"

"Oh, Ana," Tracy said. "You should have told me earlier. Now I feel stupid for not seeing it. There's no way that anyone could be so perfect, especially after losing someone close to their heart."

"I'm sorry," Ana said. "I wanted to be…"

"You _wanted_ to be perfect?" Tracy said. "Ana, you know that's impossible. You're a wonderful person, and you're doing everything you can to make the universe a better place. If anyone should feel awesome about herself, it's you."

"You honestly believe that?" Ana asked, looking Tracy in the eye.

"Yeah. My mom blames you for Ness' death, but I know that it's not your fault. You try so psyching hard at everything you do. It's what inspires me to work so hard every day."

"Well then, I'm sorry that I had to act like _this,_ " Ana said.

"You still don't get it," Tracy said. "This is _relieving,_ Ana. You're human just like anyone else. I tried to hold myself up to your standards, but now I know that you feel pain and weakness just like everyone else. So it's okay that _I_ spend hours alone sobbing at my brother's death and cursing the world."

"You…" Ana's eyes widened.

"You honestly didn't think that you were alone, did you?" Tracy asked. "Other people mourn. Other people suffer. We all try to hide it behind closed doors."

Ana sucked in a breath of sweet air. She exhaled through her mouth, letting her stress and anxiety float away on the wind.

"Thanks, Tracy," Ana said. "I really needed that."

Tracy walked up and embraced Ana in a hug.

"Don't hesitate to come to me if you ever need to cry," Tracy said. "I'm here to support you, just like you're here to support me. That's what friends are for, right?"

"All right," Ana managed. "And I'll be there for you too, okay?"

"Yeah," Tracy said. "I know you will."

(ILH)

"So this is what a Ceresian cell looks like," Jeff said, looking at the stone walls and iron bars around him. "At least we have a toilet."

"I wonder how long they're planning on keeping us in here," Claus said from a different cell.

"I don't know," Jeff said. "But we might as well get comfortable."

"Hard to do after they stole my breastplate. I feel naked without it. Hey, everyone else. You might want to look away."

Claus chuckled. A couple prisoners in cells across from Jeff took peeks over at Claus' cell and shivered, immediately turning back. Jeff frowned. He couldn't see Claus himself, but what could…?

"There we go," Claus said. "Nobody expects me to keep a portocom in my empty eye socket. Let's call Ana and see what's happening."

Oh. Had Claus just pulled something out of his eye? Jeff nearly gagged.

The call with Ana didn't yield them with much information, although it was nice to know that the news stations were already taking notice of the protest and the brutal ways in which the police responded.

They chatted quite often over the weeks whenever Claus was certain that the guards weren't looking. Ana informed them that the movement was basically rolling along as planned: the news regularly covered it, more people joined the cause, and Ceres ran out of jail space to fit everyone. By the end of the month, the police were scrambling for an answer as for what to do.

The greatest part about the movement in Jeff's eye was how it got everyone involved. Even though the psionics school was quite adamant in its support of the government, many students were not. Posters lined the walls inviting people to join the protests, listing off dates and times. Students talked openly about the protests and the good that they were bringing to Ceres. While some of the ex-nobles turned their noses up at the movement and made comments about commoner scum, the school as a whole responded positively to Kim's protests.

According to Ana, Kim himself was an excellent speaker and persuaded hundreds to join their cause and kept the protestors from fighting back against the police and the government. The peaceful resistance worked; more and more people flocked to the protests.

Jeff smiled whenever hearing the good news of the anti-Monotoli movement. It turned out quite differently than he expected, but he supposed that was a good thing. No conventional resistance would be able to garner as much support about something that lacked closeness such as wars on Earth and Vulcan.

The prisons filled up quickly, meaning that he and Claus had helped to do their part in pushing the government to come up with an answer. Who knew? Maybe Monotoli would resign and they would negotiate a peaceful settlement.

Perhaps things were looking up.

* * *

A month had passed since the first protest, and Ana was starting to come to terms with life. She and Tracy worked out together that they would go to a few protests together, namely ones where Kim gave speeches urging nonviolence. She was impressed by how few people judged Kim by his Dalaamian heritage; the other protestors simply saw him as another human being with the same worries that they had.

During the month, Tracy had learned the basics of the other disciplines of psionics, creating ectoplasmic weapons and flinging balls of goo while teleporting small distances and reading minds. She even delved into more complex powers, and Ana taught her the basics of combat.

One day when Ana and Tracy were training in a park outside school grounds, a woman with ruby earrings and a black dress approached them.

"Wait," Tracy said. "Is that _Venus?_ Like, you know, the popstar?"

Venus smiled, although it did little to mask her worry.

"Ana," she said. "It's nice to meet you again."

"I wish I could say the same," Ana said. "Given the expression on your face, I'm guessing that you need something from a competent psion and you want me to find one for you?"

"If you do not consider yourself competent, few psions would be," Venus said. "Your parents worked with Monotoli, right? I need you to talk to him. Maybe you'll be able to get through to him. It's not likely, but you're my last chance."

"Why?" Ana asked. "What's going on with Monotoli?"

"He's…" Venus paused, taking a deep breath. "He's talking about attacking the protestors for real. He wants to kill as many as he can to scare the others away."

Ana narrowed her eyes, processing Venus' words.

"I know that you don't like me, Ana," Venus said. "But please. Can you look past that and try to talk some sense into Monotoli?"

Could this be a trap? No, that didn't make much sense. Ana had followed the law perfectly, so far as they knew. And it wouldn't make sense to lead her into some trap just because she visited a couple protests. Ana looked into Venus' eyes and saw the concern that lay beneath her eyeliner. Could Venus really fake something like this?

"I would be a monster to say no," Ana answered. "Let's try to stop Monotoli from making a horrible mistake."

* * *

 **Earthbound is pretty clear about being anti-police, and some of that slipped into my writing here. Although in this case the police still has a culture of knighthood from earlier days in the empire (and knights were really just a bunch of big thugs who beat up people because rich men told them too), so there are class issues also at play here. Not that there aren't in real life or anything.**

 **My time transitions are a bit awkward, and here we jump forward a month without much really happening. Not sure how to smooth it out, though.**

 **I think I took inspiration from the US Civil Rights movement for the peaceful protests here. Kim preached a lot of Ghandi and MLK, and I wanted something a bit more conclusive to wrap things up for the final arcs instead of additional morally grey revolutions. But whenever social issues are discussed writers always have to be careful, and I'm sure that I could address the problems that I do in a better way. But I'm getting there :)**

 **Monotoli:** After Minerva Carpainter and Ana's parents died, Monotoli was next in line to become president. He wasn't elected and a lot of people hate him though (like imagine if Ajit Pai somehow became the US president lmao).

 **Claus' eyepatch:** Claus has been missing an eye ever since we've seen him at the start of part 1, and back in some of the flashbacks. I wonder why...?


	27. Chapter 23: Beauty in Decay

_Indeed, Lorraine wished for us to worship her as a goddess while giving us the powers of objective, critical thinking._

 _Those two often did not align._

* * *

Diana Carpainter walked through one of the major starman bases. Out of all of them, this base was the only one with conditions similar to Earth and Ceres for humans so that humans could survive. Different parts of the base corresponded to different pressures and oxygen levels, so someone could teleport in regardless of their altitude and not notice a jarring change if they landed in the right place.

Diana felt the grey walls of the base. They carried the sheen of metal but felt decidedly more… organic. Was the entire starman base _alive?_ Disturbing.

It didn't take long until Diana sensed her target's thoughts. Mary hadn't even bothered to hide her mind with a mind shield, so Diana could read every single thought that passed through her mind.

Which she did. It went about as she expected. Mary was still devoted to Giygas' cause, but was hesitant and confused. Vaporizing an entire city could to that to a person, Diana supposed.

"You are not one of us," Mary said in a monotone voice, walking up to Diana. "Your starman kill count reached 1327 just today."

"That few?" Diana frowned. "I need to start picking up some slack here."

Mary didn't laugh or smile. She didn't even groan or scowl. She simply stood still, staring at Diana with her icy eyes.

"And yet you are here," Mary said.

"Again," Diana said with a wink.

"Again."

"By all means, you should kill me right now," Diana said. "I am more of a danger to Master Giygas than most Ceresian psions, and he's already had his forces kill more Ceresian psions than have died in the previous 50 years."

"But you somehow know that I won't kill you," Mary said. "I don't understand it, but even if I were confident in my abilities…" she shook her head. "I would still leave you standing. Why?"

 _So she's not confident in her "abilities?"_ Diana thought. _Does that mean she can't bring herself to kill after what happened to Fiven?_

"You wouldn't kill me because you're curious," Diana said.

"Curious?"

"It doesn't make sense why I'm here. You want to find out why. It's a normal, human emotion."

"I am not supposed to have emotions."

"Right, you're supposed to be a machine ruled by sensations of pleasure and pain. Someone who goes around to kill because the lust for power is all that you have left."

"But I'm not just that person. I hesitate. I feel."

 _She catches on more quickly than Lucas,_ Diana thought. _Did Giygas leave her with more of herself?_

"You do," Diana said. "And you probably won't believe me when I say this, but-"

"But you think it's good," Mary said, her eyes remaining pinned on Diana. "You applaud my supposed 'return to humanity.'" Mary drew her lips into a thin smile. "You don't have to speak the obvious, Ms. Carpainter. I know how your kind think, even if I may not understand why."

Years of hiding her emotions from her father's cult allowed Diana to nod as if she expected Mary's response rather than showing her surprise. While she was at it, Diana buried a bit of fear. She wasn't positive, but from the way Mary talked Diana guessed that she had some way to bypass a psion's protective aura and defensive stalling capabilities to kill them immediately.

Diana didn't place her life's value at much, but she still feared for what Mary would do.

"Well then, that saves me a bit of breath," Diana said. "But either way, I think it's good for you to see another human, even if…"

"Even if you're not a human," Mary said. "In the same way that a starman who wears human skin is still a starman. Your emotions and desires cannot overcome your parentage. Do you feel it, Diana? Your other half?"

Diana smiled. She tried not to let Mary's talk of Diana's existence as a half-starman get under her skin. She almost succeeded.

"More than I would like," Diana said. "It's like having a relative who's an alcoholic. I can accept this starman half of me as something normal, or I can recognize how _wrong_ it is and fight back with all of my effort. The blend of human and starman gives me strength beyond what most psions get. Even with the price, even with the cold logic nagging at me…" Diana trailed off.

"You still would rather be that way," Mary said. "You would _choose_ to be forsaken."

"Crying out against my circumstances seems like the standard way to go," Diana said. "But if I didn't have these powers, I would have probably died in childhood on Vulcan. So even though I am only half a woman, I am alive and ready to make a difference."

"The exact opposite of me," Mary said. "I hesitate. I couldn't kill again if I tried."

"I think that's your conscience speaking to you," Diana said. "Hesitation is viewed by both humans and starmen as something bad. But there's a reason why humans hesitate and starmen don't. The ability to hold back and simply _do nothing_ can be surprisingly useful. I can see that you're conflicted, Mary. Your inaction is the best form of action."

"You followed your father's orders blindly and did many things you regret, yes?" Mary said. "That is why you think this way."

"More or less. After I realized that my father's cult was wrong, it took me years to put myself back on my feet. Years spent thinking and reflecting. Years spent living life through the eyes of a non-fanatic for the first time. I needed that time."

Mary frowned, a movement so slight that if Diana hadn't been examining her she would have missed it.

"A cultist isn't so different from a starman, Mary. Neither one is really an individual. I was born into humanity two years ago when I left my father's cult, and I spent those years figuring out who I am. Perhaps you should as well."

"The fundamental human error," Mary said. "You assume what works for _you_ will also work for _me._ That is often not the case."

"Often," Diana said. "But in this case, I think that my heuristic led me to the jackpot. You need something _,_ Mary, _anything._ Maybe you should sit out until you find that thing."

"It's not like I really have a choice," Mary said with a shrug. "Like I told you, I can't bring myself to kill. But I still think that you are a fool for trying to 'save' me. Maybe I will find something to care about. It will deteriorate, just like anything else."

"Indeed," Diana said, turning away. "But there is beauty in decay."

* * *

"Here we are," Venus said. "This is the capitol building, as I'm sure you know."

Ana nodded, craning her neck to look at the top of the purple building.

"We have to go through security before I teleport us to the top floor," Venus said. "They don't want a random wilder coming in here and wreaking as much havoc as they can."

"Really?" Tracy said. "They don't? Because that sounds like something that-"

"Ana, did you _have_ to bring this girl along?" Venus said, rolling her eyes. "Without even hearing the rest of the joke, I can tell how bad it's going to be."

"No, I didn't have to," Ana said. "Tracy, if you want to stay here then you're going to have to avoid antagonizing people, _especially_ Monotoli."

"All right, all right," Tracy said, rolling her eyes. "I'll try to behave, mom."

"I'm sorry for this, by the way," Venus said. "You don't deserve to get roped into this, Ana. And it really should be me at his side."

 _And why is that?_ Ana thought.

"I'm just grateful that you didn't turn me in as a deserter," Ana said. "This is the least that I can do for you."

Venus managed a nervous smile. Psych, that woman was struggling to act normal today. Or maybe this was her normal self and the person she showed back in Scaraba was the exception? Somehow, Ana doubted it.

Venus, Tracy, and Ana passed through the entrance to the capitol building. Ana could see through the crystalline walls into the outside world, but the refracted light distorted the images.

That was an apt metaphor for this building and the people inside, actually. It was technically connected to the rest of Ceres, but it saw the rest of the planet in a distorted light. Psions styled themselves as being superior to the common people, consciously or unconsciously, bringing themselves further and further away from harmony.

"All right," Venus said. "Neither of you are wearing mind shields, right?"

Ana looked forward, spotting a crystal arch that all people entering had to pass under.

"Does that arch read our auras when we walk under?" Tracy asked.

Venus nodded.

"If you have a mind shield up, it will look like you're trying to hide your psionic aura. You probably don't want to give off that impression in this diplomatic talk."

"Neither of us can make mind shields," Ana said.

"Really." Venus' eyes flashed with surprise. "But you can teleport and I've seen the strength of your psychokinetics. Compared to what you've done with those, a mind shield should be pretty easy to learn."

"Telepathy's never been my strong suit," Ana said. "I've always been the one to blast things first and think later."

Ana, Venus, and Tracy passed under the arch. Ana detected the arch's aura, but she was surprised by its lack of strength.

"Most people assume that the aura just comes from crystals that we haven't tapped yet," Venus explained. "Occasionally, we catch someone off-guard with it. Hasn't happened to any real enemies, though."

"So now we can warp up to the top floor?" Tracy said.

Venus nodded.

"The arch will let Monotoli know that we're coming, but your invitation from me will keep either of you from getting into trouble… for entering, at least. I would advise you both to keep your tone respectful. Teleport."

The universe faded around Ana, reappearing bit by bit until she found herself in an office made of the same purple crystal as the rest of the tower. Tracy walked over and looked outside the crystal, gasping.

"Everything below just looks like a dot," Tracy said.

"You can't even see it that well from up here," Ana said, looking out herself.

"That would be a long fall…" Tracy took a step away from the crystalline walls.

Ana felt nervous about the height as well, but she did her best not to let it show. It wouldn't look good for a warrior or a diplomat to fear something as silly as altitude.

"My, my," said a person sitting behind a desk. "If it isn't Lady Venus."

One look at the man's eyes told Ana all that she needed to know. He was stricken by Venus' beauty, although he probably only yearned for what he saw on stage. Venus rolled her eyes and Ana began to feel repulsed by the entire scene.

"Mr. Spoon," Venus said. "We need to see Geldegarde. Well, _they_ do."

"Of course," Mr. Spoon said, a grin coming to his face. "Anything for-"

"Shut it," Venus said. "Nobody asked for you to speak."

Mr. Spoon let out a squeak and looked away. Ana covered her mouth with a hand to stop herself from laughing. Venus looked over and smiled at Ana, winking along in approval.

"Ah, yes," Mr. Spoon said, looking at Ana and Tracy. "You two are the young ladies that wish to meet Mr. Monotoli?"

"Yep," Tracy said. "Will you let me boss you around just like Venus did there?"

"Err… no."

"What?" Tracy said. "I'm offended!"

"Then please be offended in silence," Ana said. "Let us head over to Monotoli's office, Mr. Spoon. He should already know that we're here, so we shouldn't waste any time making him wait."

 _Although,_ Ana thought. _I would really like nothing better than to make that slug wait until he rots away. I'm just scared that Tracy's going to get us both into trouble._

"Actually," Mr. Spoon said. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…"

"Spit it out," Venus said. "They won't mind."

"Of course, my lady Venu-"

"Tell _them,_ idiot."

"Ah, yes." Mr. Spoon's cheeks reddened as he cleared his throat. "Mr. Monotoli never meets people in his office. He'll come out here when he's ready. I'll send a note over that you're ready to receive him."

"He sometimes makes people wait for a while," Venus said. "I should have told you to bring a book."

"Please," Mr. Spoon said. "Make yourself comfortable. We have cushioned chairs, couches…"

"Yes, I do have eyes, Mr. Spoon," Ana said.

"Ah, young miss, but it is my job to welcome people and direct them. Surely you would forgive me for-"

Ana stopped listening. She went over and sat down on a couch that was close enough so she could talk to Venus but not too close so she wouldn't have to feel Venus' presence watching over her.

"I'm just going to keep looking out of the walls, if that's all right," Tracy said.

"Please enjoy yourself in any way possible," Mr. Spoon said.

" _Any_ way possible, you say?" Tracy's eyes lit up.

"I mean…" Mr. Spoon chuckled nervously. "Anything that wouldn't… err, _harm_ any people or property, shall we say?"

"Just behave yourself," Venus said. "Masturbating wouldn't hurt people or property, but that's probably not a great idea."

Ana shot a glare at Venus.

"What?" the pop singer said. "I'm proving a point here. I said that it _wasn't_ a good idea. Although if you really wanted to…"

"Why don't we end this conversation here?" Ana said.

"You know, for someone so aggressive and confident, you let little comments get under your skin rather easily," Venus said.

"That's part of what _makes_ me aggressive," Ana said. "So you might want to psych off."

"Your parents were Megan and Adam Aniah, right? I've only met them in passing, but I hear a lot of stories about them. What was it like to grow up as the daughter of two important psions?"

"They kept me out of Ceresian politics for a time," Ana said. "So I got a normal childhood."

"I suspected that." Venus sighed. "You just seem so… _regular._ "

"Excuse me?"

"Most of the psions that I know are emotionally crippled."

"And you don't think I am?" Ana said, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure you are. You're just crippled in the normal ways. You lost your boyfriend, and so you're angry at the universe. That's normal."

"It goes further than that," Ana said. "I've always been an angry person. I've always hated this part of Ceres."

"But still, that's normal. Who _wouldn't_ hate this system where people sacrifice everything to become tools for the government? Sure, you can basically do what you want after you finish school and military service for boys, but you can always feel them pulling your strings behind your back. Isn't that right?"

Ana shivered. That description hit too close to home.

"Yet many people _don't_ hate the system," Ana said.

"Right. They accept it and play by the rules. It slowly drains their life away. I'm glad that I escaped before it was too late."

Before Ana could ask what she meant, Geldegarde Monotoli appeared in the middle of the room.

"You couldn't be bothered to walk, gramps?" Venus said, reclining back in her chair. "Seriously. They put this waiting room in front of your office so you don't have to teleport."

"Thanks for the notice," Monotoli said. "And since when did I become 'gramps?'"

With that simple exchange, Ana learned more about Venus and Monotoli than made her entirely comfortable. They clearly knew each other quite well, as their banter surely wouldn't take place if the two knew each other on a professional level only. Venus seemed to enjoy getting on Monotoli's nerves, and Ana detected a certain… fondness for the pop singer in Monotoli's eyes.

Ana's heart skipped a beat. They weren't in a _relationship,_ were they? Gross.

"You've been gramps since you got old," Venus said. "So… several decades ago?"

Monotoli snorted. Ana's suspicions worsened.

"I should really kick you out of this building," Monotoli said. "You're a lucky woman, Venus. I care about you too much to see you leave."

"Lucky for my psionics. Not for much else."

Okay. Ana was basically _convinced_ that there was something going between them. Any respect that she might have had for Venus vanished in an instant.

But didn't Venus say that she had escaped the cycle of intrigue and control? Maybe there was something else going on between them.

"So you brought these two girls in," Monotoli said. "I recognize Miss Aniah, but who is the other one?"

"I'm Tracy." Tracy stepped away from the crystalline walls. "Do you remember, sir? We talked about my psionic powers over the telecommunicator and you agreed to let me go to school early."

"Ah, that's right," Monotoli said. "You showed promise at such a young age. I couldn't let your talent go to waste."

Tracy flashed a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She was already well-versed in this game, it appeared. In fact, she could probably control herself better than Ana did the last time _she_ talked to Monotoli on Vulcan.

"And Miss Aniah," Monotoli said. "I would pull out the overused adult phrase and say that you've grown, but you're really quite the same since we last met."

Same in terms of height, or personal development? Ana raised an eyebrow.

"Funny," she said. "You look like you've gotten shorter."

"If you're both done trying to poke at each other in ways that you don't think we can understand," Venus said. "Why don't we actually get down to business?"

"Wait, what?" Tracy said. "They were…"

"Mr. Monotoli," Ana said. "I come with a plea on behalf of the protestors."

"Oh, this will be good," Monotoli said with a sneer. He walked over and sat down in a chair. "Please, do tell."

"The people of Ceres are not right to resist your authority in such a… _brash_ and _brazen_ way," Ana said, smiling at Monotoli. "However, their protests are, at heart, peaceful. I come to you asking for you to show the same courtesy to them. They break laws and sow chaos, yes, so I ask you to put them back in order rather than resorting to force."

"You can just tell me that Venus gave you the information about how I'm planning to turn my military against the worms," Monotoli said. "She's sent other people to try and persuade me. I guess it must mean a lot to her."

"Thousands of lives," Venus said. "Tens of thousands. Each one just like you, Geldegarde."

"There is nobody else like me," Monotoli said. "And nobody else really cares about me. I'm simply returning the favor by not caring about them."

"That sounds like something the Dalaamian General Kim would have said," Ana replied.

"Are you comparing me to that savage?" Monotoli said, wrinkling his nose. "Those Dalaamians don't even know what end of the spear they use to stab people with."

"Which explains how they were the only people to hold back the Old Empire," Ana said. "And I merely speak the truth, Mr. Monotoli. Take from it what you will."

 _Psych,_ Ana thought. _This is not going well._

"Mr. Monotoli, sir," Tracy said. "Please don't use the military on the protestors. It will only turn more of them against you."

"I don't care how many of them are 'against me,'" Monotoli said. "So long as they do what they're supposed to and don't make my life miserable, I'll be happy. If it means that I have to use fear to make them behave, so be it."

"How did that work for you on Vulcan?" Ana asked. "I hear that they're behaving quite well right now. The point that Tracy's trying to make is that you alienate yourself further from the general public by using force on them. Ceresians are entitled. They won't give in even if it means sacrificing their lives."

"Stubborn little…" Monotoli cut himself off. "Venus, you really reached low, didn't you? A little girl and another little girl. Did you think that they could persuade me?"

"Worth a shot," Venus said. "I'll do pretty much anything that gives me a shot at preventing a massacre."

"You're too soft," Monotoli said. "You're _all_ too soft. Women." He shook his head.

"Right, it's because of our psyching _sex organs_ that we're not monsters," Ana said. "But women can be just as heartless as men. I'm sure that you know how Minerva Carpainter bombed Aphrodite and killed millions. How do you think that worked out for her?"

"Treason," Monotoli hissed. "Your words are laced with poisonous lies, Miss Aniah. I guess _this_ is how your parents really raised you."

Before Ana could fire back, Venus grabbed onto her arm.

"I didn't realize the history between the two of you," the pop singer said. "Out we go."

"No!" Ana shouted. "I refuse-"

"Ana," Tracy said. "You'll only make things worse. Mr. Monotoli, I hope that you forgive my friend's outbursts. She doesn't know what she's saying."

That made Ana's blood come even closer to boiling, but she forced herself to bite back a comment.

"Goodbye, Mr. Spoon," Venus said. "Try not to stare at too many breasts while I'm gone."

Venus dragged Ana out of the office, followed by Tracy. They entered another room with crystal walls and floors, and this one led to a staircase down.

"Fucking worm," Ana said.

"Listen, I can't blame you," Venus said. "My father can get quite obnoxious to deal with."

"Your…" Ana's jaw dropped in shock.

"This isn't my actual body," Venus said. "And Venus isn't my actual name. I am Erine Monotoli, the youngest sibling out of eight. Although I think that two of my brothers died in Scaraba. I'm not really close with them, so I don't know for sure."

"Why?" Ana said. "Why Venus, then?"

"The goddess of love, of course," Venus said with a wink.

"Why the singing? Why the fame? You're a psion. What does any of it matter to you?"

"As a child, nobody ever noticed me. Nobody ever cared about me."

"Not your parents?" Ana said.

"Do you think that _Geldegarde Monotoli_ would give a psych about any of his kids?" Venus said with a harsh laugh. "And by that point, my mom was too busy and tired to give me much attention. I basically lived in the shadows of my siblings for my entire life."

"I can relate," Tracy said, looking down at her feet.

"And to top things off, I wasn't really _good_ at anything," Venus said. "I wasn't smart, I wasn't good with psionics, I wasn't likable, and I wasn't even pretty." Before Tracy could interject, "This isn't the body I was born in. The original me looked so normal that you probably wouldn't give her a passing thought."

"So that's what it was?" Ana asked. "A desire for recognition?"

"That's what it started as," Venus said. "After learning about polymorphing psionics, I realized that I could change myself. My singing voice was never good as Erine, but if I could turn myself into someone with perfect vocal cords…"

"So it's a lie," Tracy said. "All of it. Your talent, your beauty, everything."

"Everything on _my_ end is a lie, certainly," Venus said. "And I did start to feel guilty about wrapping Earth around my pinky finger. But the feelings that people have for me are real."

"Like that man back in the waiting room?" Tracy said.

"Mr. Spoon? That ball of lust? Ew." Venus made a disgusted face. "But seriously. People really like my music. You'd be surprised at the number of people who came up to me in a concert and said that my music helped them through tough times."

"That's true," Tracy said. "I used to listen to your music all day after my dad died and Ness turned into a shell of his former self. It seems so silly, but…"

"But sometimes the silly things help," Venus said. "That's why I don't stop. _I_ may be fake, but the people I can help are real. Besides," Venus smiled, "Music has an art, and I couldn't stop if my life depended on it."

Ana nodded. While few would applaud Venus for her trickery and deceit, she still helped the world in her own way. Ana could respect that, at the very least.

"Wait," Venus said, placing her ear to the grey door that led to the waiting room. "I thought I heard someth…" her jaw dropped.

"What?" Ana asked.

"Oh, psych," Venus said. "He didn't sound like he was kidding, either."

"What?" Tracy asked. "Is he going to do something to you?"

"Nah, this isn't really about me anymore."

"Am _I_ in trouble?" Ana asked.

"Probably, but that's not what I heard." Venus gritted her teeth. "Oh, but you would never believe me…"

"Just say it," Tracy said.

"All right, all right." Venus took a deep breath. "Monotoli said that he was going to release chimeras from the labs."

"Chimeras?" Tracy asked with a snort. "Like… you know, a sphinx or something? Half zebra half whatever?"

 _I don't think that a sphinx is half zebra,_ Ana thought.

"So Jeff was right," Ana said to herself.

"What was that?" Venus said.

"I know a friend who expressed interest in the chimera labs," Ana said. "Maybe he knows where they are."

Ana pulled her portocom out of her pocket and typed in Jeff's new number.

"Haven't used this thing in ages," Ana muttered. "It would have been useful, too. Maybe Ness still had his. If he did, I could have used it to-"

Claus' face flashed on the screen from the other end. Ana could see the walls around him and remembered that he got arrested for protesting a month ago.

"Still haven't let you out, huh?" Ana said.

"Still waiting," Claus said. "Just checking in, or did something pop up? You look like you just saw a ghost, so I'm guessing the latter."

"Is Jeff there?" Ana asked.

"I can talk," came Jeff's voice from further away.

"Jeff," Ana said. "Do you know anything about the chimera labs?"

"Why?" Jeff's voice asked. "Did something happen there?"

"Something's _going_ to happen. Monotoli said that he would release the chimeras on the protestors."

A pause.

"Psych," Claus muttered. "Jeff, are those labs actually real?"

"Yeah," Jeff said. "Call Ninten's number. Kumatora will know where they are too, and she'll actually be able to help. Claus, we might want to bust out of here."

"Can't without teleport," Claus said.

"Maybe Kumatora will come by and pick you up," Ana said. "I'll call Ninten's number. Thanks, Jeff!"

Ana ended the call and typed Ninten's number into the portocom.

"Those things are quite useful, aren't they?" Venus said. "Seems like everyone has one. I even got a sponsorship deal by the company that makes them."

A moment later, Ninten's face popped up on the portocom. Ana guessed from the background that he was sitting inside the cafeteria.

"Hey, Ann," Ninten said. "What's up? And where are you, anyway? It almost looks like you're in the Shard of Ceres or something."

Ana explained her situation to Ninten as quickly as she could, stumbling over several words

"Chimeras?" Ninten said. "From the labs?"

Ana nodded.

"Psych," Ninten said. "Yeah, I've been there with Kumatora before. I'll tell her the news. We should probably head over and stop them."

"By yourself?" Ana said. "Don't you want to report it to the authorities?"

"The authorities who are likely _with_ Monotoli?" Ninten said. "Nah, we'll be fine."

Ana's heart skipped a beat. She had already lost Ness and her parents; would Ninten be the next to leave her?

"Don't worry, Ann," Ninten said. "If things look rough, I'll bail. I can't _promise_ that I'll survive, but I'll do my best. I may not be as smart or as strong as you, but I'm not a complete idiot all of the time."

Ana took a deep breath. "Fine. But you had better try your best to sty alive."

"Yeah, of course. Thanks, Ann."

Ninten smiled and ended the call.

"He seemed like a nice kid," Venus said. "Are you together?"

"Just friends."

"Ah, you just seemed so worried…"

"I can worry about a friend, can't I?" Ana said. "Plus, I don't have many people left."

"Oh," Venus said, her face turning downcast. "I'm sorry, then."

"So what do we do now?" Tracy asked.

"I think that I have the answer to that," came a voice from behind Ana.

She turned around to spot Diana Carpainter standing in the room with a weak smile on her face and a bow slung across her back.

"Sorry for the last time we met," Diana said to Venus. "I didn't mean for all of your psions to go down like that."

" _You_ were the Scaraban psion?" Venus asked.

"You're not the only one who can shapeshift. Now, let's get down to business. Monotoli knows that I'm here because of the psionic enchantments in this building. I'll lure him away and then you three need to sneak into his room and destroy a gold statue inside."

"A gold statue?" Venus said.

"It's called the Mani Mani statue. You'll know it when you feel its aura. It allows him to communicate with Giygas. My sister thinks that it might be possessing him, although I think it's more along the lines of… suggestion. It plays on Monotoli's fears and brings out the worst in him."

"And why should we trust you?" Venus asked. "I mean, you just kind of popped out of nowhere. It's a little suspicious."

"I trust her," Ana said. "After all, she was the one who managed to keep Mary at bay for several minutes."

"Several minutes is a bit of an exaggeration. Oh, here he comes."

Diana opened a portal and leapt through it, closing the portal behind her. Geldegarde Monotoli stormed into the room a second later.

"Did you see a psion come in here?" he asked. "It came up on our psionic radar."

"Yeah," Venus said. "She seemed surprised that we were there and bailed out as soon as she could."

Ana was impressed by how fluently Venus lied. She supposed that it was natural, coming from a person who made a lot of appearances in public. A pop star like her would need to bite down her true feelings and put on a show that the public wanted.

"Psych," Monotoli said. "At least we can tell where she went. That was Diana Carpainter, the notorious mass murderer. I'll bring her to justice and then come back. Goodbye."

Monotoli vanished from sight.

"Working with the mass murderer Diana Carpainter?" Venus said. "Why not? I guess I'm in with you guys."

"I'm in as well," Tracy said. "Let's take down that stupid golden statue or whatever."

"Thanks, guys," Ana said. "We should hurry before Monotoli gets back… if he ever does."

Venus gulped and nodded. Despite everything Venus had said about her father, Ana saw a twinge of concern in her eyes. Perhaps Venus would weep on the day that Geldegarde Monotoli died.

Just like her and Minerva, Ana supposed.

* * *

 **Things are starting to heat up now that we're back on Ceres :) I hope you enjoy what's coming up!**

 **Monotoli:** Ana knows him from the campaign he led on the planet Vulcan, and as you can see her opinion of him is not that high

 **Venus:** Was part of the Ceresian force in Scaraba trying to suppress the revolution and maintain Eagleish colonial rule. Ana fought alongside her for a while before going off on her own missions while the battle raged on.

 **Mani Mani Statue:** Another reference to Earthbound, in which the statue was sent by Giygas to corrupt Monotoli (along with other statues to corrupt other people)


	28. Chapter 24: Ghost of Starman

_For someone who wished to give us free will, Lorrain demanded almost absolute control over us. From her perspective, she was still treating us well. Unlike the starmen, which Giygas used as extensions of himself, we could have our own lives._

 _Still, many of us were not satisfied._

* * *

Jeff Andonuts couldn't stop worrying about the chimeras that Ana had told him about

"Well," Claus said. "This is getting rather ugly. I would go and help, but I can't teleport out of here."

Some of the other protestors mumbled in agreement.

"Yeah, too bad I don't have anything with me," Jeff said. "I could really use some of my tools right about now…"

"Eh, the guards would have confiscated them," Claus said. "They took my psyching _breastplate_ and probably pawned it off weeks ago. The only difference between these guys and thieves is that it's legal to fight back against the thief."

"I bet it's worse because they're all together," Jeff said. "They feed of each other's anger."

 _Just like us,_ Jeff thought. _We're both groups of people who join together to oppose a principle. How righteous are we, truly?_

Right as the doubts were starting to take over Jeff's mind, he remembered watching Fiven disappear as Mary's white laser spread across the city. He remembered Eagleish soldiers maiming and torturing Scarabans. Ceres partook in imperialism and needless wars, all with cold-hearted Geldegarde Monotoli at the helm. Yes, Jeff was right to side with Darius against Monotoli's rule.

Nevertheless, Jeff appreciated his doubts. It was easy to see the other side as a bunch of heartless murderers, but Jeff could picture himself getting mad at the protestors in the cops' position. Add in a little rage from elitist coworkers and then… Well, Jeff imagined that it wouldn't be pretty.

But still, it was good to question.

The door to Jeff's section of the prison opened. Jeff heard clattering on the ground that he assumed was Claus trying to hide his portocom, but the person standing in the doorway revealed himself as not a prison guard but Darius.

"I've been looking forever for you two," Darius said, dangling a set of keys in his left hand. "Let's get the psych out of here, shall we?"

A thousand questions raced through Jeff's mind. He settled on one.

"Why now?"

"Monotoli's sending his army to attack our protestors. We've garnered enough support that Kim thinks it's time to start defending ourselves. Besides, Monotoli's off _murdering_ people, not just beating them with sticks like those cops."

Darius walked down the rows, unlocking every cell with a quick turn of the key. When Jeff's cell opened, it felt like he was shrugging off chains and sore muscles. A simple passageway out turned his view of himself from a weary prisoner into someone eager to help. Jeff ran out of his cell, taking a deep breath and looking around him in wonder. Even just a couple steps outside his cell, he could see so much _more._

"I'll teleport you two out," Darius said to Claus and Jeff. "The rest of you can follow me. We've got some people in here to help break out everyone else, but we need our psychic warrior and our technician out on the battlefield."

Jeff gulped. Another battle? Hopefully this one wouldn't go anything like how Scaraba did. Darius gave him rushed instructions for how to reach Kim back once they got out of the prison. Jeff repeated them over several times in his head to make sure that he understood where to go.

"Can you teleport us back to the school?" Jeff asked. "I need to pick up my weapons."

"Any chance that you have a spare breastplate?" Claus asked.

"Nope," Jeff said. "Sorry. You'll have to fight without armor just like any other psion."

"If I die in this battle, it's your…" Claus cocked his head. "Actually, it's the fault of the bastards who stole my breastplate and pawned it off. But yeah, I'll do worse without armor."

"You'll still be quite useful," Darius said. "And psychic warriors don't drop easily even without armor. Can't you summon some of your own?"

"It's not as good," Claus said. "But yeah."

"We're wasting time here," Jeff said. "Civilians could be dying. Darius, could you please warp us back to the school?"

"Right, right. Good luck and try not to die out there. Teleport."

Jeff waved goodbye to his prison inmates as the world faded around him.

* * *

"You got everything you need?" Kumatora asked Ninten.

"I still can't believe that we're going to the psyching _chimera labs,_ " Ninten said. "But yeah, I'm ready."

Ninten and Kumatora stood in Kumatora's room as she rummaged through supplies. Ninten didn't know what she was looking for, but the number of times she swore under her breath told him how unsuccessful she was at finding something useful.

"I can't believe it," Kumatora said. "I don't have _any_ good materials for stopping these psyching chimeras?"

"Uh… Did you expect for this to happen or something?"

"The chimeras that the Osohe created were programmed to shut down in the presence of certain chemicals so that _this_ wouldn't happen," Kumatora said. "If Minerva copied our designs, they should be weak to the same chemicals, but I don't have any of them."

"Maybe we humans don't manufacture those chemicals anymore?" Ninten suggested.

"Yeah, that must be it. Psych." Kumatora shook her head. "I can't help but feel that this whole chimera mess is my fault, even though I wasn't directly involved with synthesizing these animals back in Faldin."

"Faldin?"

"An Osohe city. It was here on Ceres, I think. Not much is left of it." Kumatora shrugged. "The point is that my people created this mess, so I'm going to clean it up for them."

"How noble. Are you ready to go?"

Kumatora turned on Ninten.

"Are you mocking me?" she said.

"A little. You're not responsible for what the rest of your species did."

"Whatever. Teleport."

The world faded around Ninten, reappearing in the form of tall grass that went up to his waist. The chimera labs stood in front of Ninten and Kumatora, looking as lifeless and abandoned as ever.

 _What if we're too late?_ Ninten thought. _What if they already escaped and killed someone that we care about? Ness and Paula already died, so I wouldn't count any of us as safe._

Ninten closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was surprised at how much pain came with thinking about his friends. Both Ness and Paula had been wonderful influences on him, and Paula had given him access to feelings he thought had been long since beaten out of him.

Ninten's eyes shot open. Ana would probably tell him that the moment before a battle wasn't a good time to get caught up in complex emotions, Ninten couldn't think of a better time to rediscover his pain and sorrow.

It gave him a reason to fight and prevent such loss from happening to others.

"Let's go," Ninten said. "Do we have a strategy?"

"Try to keep them at bay," Kumatora said. "Use a sword, psionics, anything to keep them back. I'll deal out the pain with my PK attacks."

Ninten nodded. A part of him wanted to be the one charging in and blowing chimeras up, but the rest of him realized that Kumatora's plan made sense. He had seen her destroy an entire room just a month earlier with PK Starstorm; he would be most useful giving her enough breathing room to do her thing.

"Have you been back here recently?" Ninten asked.

"Yeah, several times throughout the last month. I killed a lot of the buggers, although I'm sure there are still a lot left." Her eyes narrowed as she pointed to tufts of grass moving. "Snakes."

Ninten narrowed his eyes, summoning a translucent sword made out of green ectoplasm. Fighting those snakes was bad enough, but here when he couldn't even see them…

"Should we try to fight in a better place?" Ninten asked.

"Might as well," Kumatora said. "PK Fire."

Kumatora lit up the area around them with a blaze. The fire started spreading, moving from grass stalk to grass stalk.

"Hopefully that will keep them distracted," Kumatora said. "Let's move!"

Ninten nodded, although he caught a glint of anger in her eyes. Kumatora tended to fight without holding back any emotions, but the contempt that she showed these chimeras outclassed even what she had shown while fighting Master Belch back in the Deep Darkness.

She growled as she ran towards the entrance to the lab, scouring the grass. A snake leapt out at her, and she grabbed it in the air and yanked its head off just like she had done when they first visited the chimera labs about a month ago. Kumatora grunted and smiled as snake blood dripped down her arms.

Ninten hurried after her. Despite Kumatora's impulsive nature, he usually trusted her to keep herself under control when it mattered. But with this…

He might need to keep an eye on her.

Ninten felt fangs sink into his ankle and grunted, stumbling forward and barely managing not to fall. He kept running forward despite the pain that shot up through his leg. Even as a psion, a simple misstep that led to Ninten on the ground could be quite dangerous. If he fell, it would give the snakes free reign to slither all over him and bite every part of his body that they pleased.

Ninten pictured fangs tearing through the skin of his cheek and boring into his mouth and felt a chill run down his spine. No matter what, he could _not_ afford to trip.

"Lifeup," Ninten muttered, running forward while manifesting the power. "Healing."

The throbbing subsided, but no psionics could stop his heart from racing and his mind from imagining hundreds of snakes in the grass in front of him. Funny how fear turned him into just another person.

It reminded Ninten of the time after his grandfather Coran had kidnapped him and forced him to awaken his psionic powers. After that incident, Ninten had reawakened his fear for the dark. Whenever he was alone and couldn't see, he always pictured men with knives and crooked smiles at his door, just waiting for a chance to slice his throat open.

Perhaps this was the same. Perhaps it wasn't the snakes that terrified him so much as the fact that he couldn't see them. Ninten let a smile come to his face and slowed his pace so that he wouldn't collapse from exhaustion the second he entered the chimera labs. Ninten was scared of the grass that cloaked the snakes rather than the chimeras themselves, and _psych_ was that a silly fear.

Ninten laughed out loud, which helped him relax (although it probably didn't do much to help Kumatora's view of his sanity). He took a couple more bites to the ankle, but he was ready for them and ran past without breaking a stride. He dashed into the entrance of the chimera lab, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"PK Fire," Kumatora said.

Flames sprouted up right outside the entrance, blocking the path of any snake who moved towards the exit. The rage in Kumatora's eyes burned hotter than the fire she created ever would.

Ninten healed himself from the snake bites again. The sensation of pain faded away, leaving only slight irritation in its place. Ninten looked around the chimera labs, spotting no other animals ready to kill them.

"There's no way that we can stop all of them," Kumatora said. "Before we know it, some of those snakes will escape out into the main part of town. I'm sure they'll kill anyone in their paths, even children."

 _Yeah, I noticed,_ Ninten thought. _Because I'm a child and they tried their damndest to end my life._

"I wish that I could kill them all," Kumatora said. "It would rid the universe of an ugly stain."

"Listen, I appreciate that you're motivated and all that," Ninten said. "But you seem… a little _too_ motivated."

"You think that my anger will push me over the edge." Kumatora cocked her head. "It might. But if I had to lose control of myself in any situation, this would be the one that I would forgive myself for. We never should have messed with life like this."

"Messing with life is different from using it as a weapon."

Kumatora grunted.

"I guess you're right," she said. "After all, I was created synthetically, as were all Osohe. Although, that might not have been the best plan either." She laughed, then shook her head. "Less talking. More killing."

Ninten looked to either side and saw a hippopotamus standing at the end of each hallway.

"Oh, hah!" Kumatora said. "I thought that they would be _dangerous_ ani-"

Ninten grabbed Kumatora and pulled her aside as one of the hippos charged through, nearly trampling over both of them. It moved surprisingly quickly, snapping its jaw at Kumatora and missing by inches.

"Oh, psych," Kumatora said, her voice shaken.

"Entangling ectoplasm!" Ninten shouted, hurling a ball of goo at the hippo.

The ectoplasm collided with the chimera, and Ninten crafted it large enough to engulf most of the hippo's body once it smacked into the animal. The hippo stumbled and lost its balance, but the other one reared back to charge.

"Don't try to meet its charge," Ninten said. "It will run you over like a truck."

Kumatora nodded. The second hippo rushed past its comrade and charged at Ninten and Kumatora, opening its mouth and baring its teeth. Kumatora grabbed onto Ninten and jumped, using her psychokinetic powers to make both of them levitate. The hippo passed under the psionics-users, and Kumatora dropped her levitation and came down with a sharp kick to the hippo's neck.

The hippo reared back and groaned in pain, throwing Kumatora off. Ninten still levitated in the air from Kumatora's psionics, and he wasn't sure how to deactivate it. He floated forward and sliced the back of the hippo's neck, severing its spinal cord and paralyzing its body. The hippo slumped to the ground, letting out a groan.

"One down!" Ninten shouted.

Ninten's ears alerted him to the second hippo stampeding forward. He jerked his head to the side to see the beast's mouth wide open, its massive jaw about to crunch down on Kumatora. It had gotten most of Ninten's sticky ectoplasm off of its body, leaving it unhindered.

"Mind thrust!" Kumatora shouted.

"Ectoplasmic wall!" Ninten added on.

Kumatora's power didn't impact the hippo in a noticeable way; the animal either didn't notice or fought through the pain as it charged forward. Ninten put up a wall of hardened ectoplasm between Kumatora and the hippo, but it shattered as the beast rammed into it. Shards of green, glasslike substance flew everywhere, cutting both Kumatora and Ninten.

"Psych!" Kumatora said, scrambling in an attempt to get away.

The hippo caught Kumatora between its jaws and _crunched_ down on her. The bite would have killed any normal person, but Kumatora's psionic aura would protect her from normally fatal damage. Still, Ninten knew from experience that the aura didn't mitigate the pain, and Kumatora cried out while squirming to escape the hippo's jaws.

"PK… Freeze," Kumatora said between gasps and shouts.

Ice encased the hippo, but it refused to let go of Kumatora's body. The ice shattered and faded away, accomplishing little.

 _I guess they made it sturdier as part of the chimera treatment,_ Ninten thought.

"Kumatora!" Ninten said. "Let's finish this thing with our raw psionic strength. Mind Thrust!"

Ninten used all of his might to attack the hippo's mind head-on, and Kumatora followed up with the same power. Ninten _pushed_ as hard as he could, his mind straining under the pressure. Kumatora roared, and Ninten could sense her power growing stronger. They exerted as much force as they could fit in their minds.

The hippo stiffened, then slumped to the ground. Kumatora pulled the hippo's mouth open and tumbled out.

"Lifeup," she said, stumbling towards Ninten. "Those guys were tougher than I expected."

Her voice sounded drained, colorless. Kumatora leaned on a wall and took gasps of air.

"Tired?" Ninten said.

Her face turned sour.

"What do you think?" she said.

Ninten shrugged, walking over and sticking his sword through the paralyzed hippo's eye and into its brain. After removing his sword from the animal's corpse, he heard growling and panting that didn't come from Kumatora.

"Did you hear that?" Ninten said.

Kumatora's eyes widened. She nodded, returning to her battle stance. A dozen wolves appeared on the far side of the hallway, growling and baring their teeth. Kumatora let out a groan.

Ninten started into the wolves' yellow eyes. Even though they belonged to a different species, Ninten could read their expression well enough to tell that they intended to fight and kill any humans that they saw.

"I guess we're not done yet," Ninten said, raising his sword.

* * *

Diana Carpainter appeared in an underground vault filled with glowing crystals and wrinkled papers. She saw no exit to this place, meaning that the only way to get in was through teleportation. What happened when the oxygen in the room ran out, she wondered?

Diana had sounded confident enough when talking to Ana and Tracy about distracting Monotoli, but this plan of hers was a gamble. Perhaps he wouldn't care enough to come. But she suspected that he would follow her right when his fancy survey machines alerted him to her teleportation.

After all, these crystals and papers contained the details of every shady deal Geldegarde Monotoli had ever been a part of. It was no wonder that they could fill a massive vault.

Diana picked up one of the crystals and looked inside with her psionic senses. These crystals made connections between points of psionic energy similar to neurons in the human brain, and Diana could look at those connections to see thoughts or other information inside. By looking at the entire web of connections, she could see a story.

This one explained how Monotoli rose to power as the mayor of Fourside by assassinating political rivals with psionics while using telepathy to manipulate others by drawing out emotions buried deep inside of them.

Diana sensed Monotoli's presence behind her with her PSI vision. She dropped the crystal and turned around, looking at him with a cold smile. The crystals gave off enough light for both of them to see each other clearly.

"I had no idea that you knew about this place," Monotoli said, his eyes narrowing. "You've probably figured out that this is where I hide every dirty secret."

"I'll have to thank Minerva for this one," Diana said. "She did some investigating after her death, since she was already attuned to her psionic senses."

"Because both of you are half-starman," Monotoli said.

"No games this time?" Diana frowned. "When we met in your sky runner back in Scaraba, you were perfectly fine talking circles around me. Why the sudden bluntness?"

Monotoli sighed, pacing back and forth.

"Because the jig is up," he finally said. "You've backed me into a corner, Diana. I was always in more control than anyone knew. I could use my reason to bend everyone to my will. There's no point in lying to someone when you can tell them the truth just as easily."

"But now?" Diana said.

"But now, you hold the secret to all of my unsavory actions. Most of these are from decades ago, but if they got out…"

"There would be riots," Diana said.

"There already _are_ riots." Monotoli's face darkened. "You would show these to my psions and turn them against me. It would plunge Ceres into chaos. Who would be the next president?"

"Someone better than you."

"A better person, yes. But a better ruler?"

"Your 'rule' has cause disasters wherever you've gone, Geldegarde. Scaraba and Vulcan are on their knees because of _you._ "

"And you don't think I feel bad for that?" Monotoli asked. "When I saw Fiven disappear in front of my eyes, do you think that I was _happy?_ "

Diana cocked her head as Monotoli took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut like a child afraid of being beaten. She didn't know if even a refined charlatan like Monotoli could fake that sort of emotion.

"On Vulcan," Diana said. "You engineered the collapse of a better world for them because you own factories."

"I did," Monotoli said. "And it weighs on me. None of this was worth it, was it?" Monotoli chuckled. "What are we _here_ for, Diana? Do we just exist to kill each other and fulfill petty plots?"

"This is another one of your games," Diana said. "What are you trying to distract me from?"

"Didn't I say it was easier for me to tell the truth?" Monotoli said. "I struggle with these thoughts. I hold the greatest position of power in the entire universe, yet I could not imagine feeling more restrained."

 _So he knows,_ Diana thought. _He knows how Minerva and I feel._

"But you probably don't have any sympathy for me, and you shouldn't," Monotoli said. "I've always accepted the fact that I'm an evil person. I thought that the power was worth it, but I was a fool. After all of this time, it feels so… empty."

Monotoli closed his eyes and reached out with his hands towards nothing in particular.

"What's real?" Monotoli asked. "What's fake? Which impulses do I listen to? Which ones do I ignore? Why why _why?_ "

"Maybe you should do what you recommended for me," Diana said. "Spend some time away from the conflict and find out who you truly are."

"I don't really have that luxury," Monotoli said. "Besides, I understand what you're pushing me to do. If you release what you find here, there won't _be_ a future for me anymore. I don't know what to think, but…" Monotoli stood up straight. "My fears remain the same."

"Why keep a record of everything?" Diana asked. "Why leave traces of your past at all?"

"At first, it was pride," Monotoli said. "Now, it is my duty. If I cannot face a room full of my sins, maybe I shouldn't have committed them in the first place. But I'll soldier through this, Diana, just like I'll fight you to keep my secrets hidden. Without the part of myself that I hide in this room, I am nothing. Plasma."

Diana watched as a blue substance that looked vaguely like molten lava covered Monotoli's hands. It glowed brightly, nearly blinding Diana the second after she looked at it.

"The pain is real," Monotoli said. "I can hang onto that, at least. Fight me, Diana."

Monotoli lunged forward, trying to grab onto Diana and burn her with the plasma on his hands. Diana stepped backwards, but the heat from the plasma coming close still singed her.

 _How does he manage to deal with the heat?_ Diana thought. _Psych that, how does he manage to deal with the fact that there's psyching plasma surrounding his hands?_

Diana wanted nothing more than to run away while firing arrows, but she didn't want Monotoli to suspect that she was stalling for time so that Ana and Tracy could break the Mani Mani statue. Diana summoned a pair of daggers out of ectoplasm, as anything longer would be unwieldy in close quarters.

She darted forward, stabbing Monotoli with her daggers. She was faster than him and caught him with her attack before he could dodge, but the plasma that radiated from Monotoli's hands continued to burn Diana's skin. Her psionic aura would protect her for quite a time, she knew, and afterwards she could simply heal back up with her psionics.

Monotoli ran away, firing bolts of plasma from his hands at Diana. She danced out of the way of most of them, and the few bolts that did hit only made a minor dent in her psionic aura.

They continued to fight along those lines, with Diana as the aggressor with her knives while Monotoli retreated and fired off plasma. Monotoli revealed more and more techniques that he could use with his plasma, from fashioning it into a sword that he used to stab Diana to creating a shield that would melt any knives or arrows that went in.

Diana refused to let herself get frustrated by Monotoli's style of battle. After all, he was the one burning through his psionic energy like a star burning through its hydrogen fuel. Monotoli always gave her enough room to heal herself when she needed to, so there was no danger of him catching her by surprise. She simply had to wait until he ran out of energy.

After what felt like hours, the plasma faded from Monotoli's hands. He looked down at them and frowned. After a second, his eyes widened in alarm.

 _Monotoli's more careful than this,_ Diana thought. _He wants to bait me into charging at him. I don't know what game he's playing, but I refuse to believe that he let himself run out of psionic energy without realizing it._

Diana stepped back and summoned a bow. She nocked an arrow, pointing it at Monotoli.

"What's your game, Geldegarde?" she asked.

Monotoli smiled. The next second, she sensed something appear behind her with her PSI vision.

By then, she already knew that it was too late.

A moment later, starman arms coiled around her wrists, pulling her hands off of her bow and restraining her. She kicked at the starman with all of her might, but she doubted that it would do any good.

"Not bad," Monotoli said. "Most people I know would have run straight towards me. Unfortunately, you still weren't paying close enough attention to your surroundings."

Diana squirmed. Her PSI vision told her what this starman was thinking which led her to a conclusion about its identity, but it _couldn't_ be…

"Did you really think that I would fight you without backup?" Monotoli asked with a chuckle. "So yes, I _was_ stalling for my friend here to show up. It probably doesn't make you feel better that everything I said was true. I don't understand my purpose in life, but at least complaining to you about it gave my accomplice a little more time."

"Father," Diana said, addressing the starman that she couldn't see behind her. "You're supposed to be dead."

She detected amusement coming from the starman. _Amusement,_ of all psyching things. Starmen weren't supposed to feel emotion!

"I am dead," the starman said, whirring in its mechanical voice. "Master Giygas found a way to bring me back to life."

Monotoli frowned. "Mr. Carpainter?"

"I am the person you speak of," the starman said. "Now, my daughter, would you please stop kicking me? It's rather annoying."

"You starmen can't feel annoyance," Diana said, slamming her foot into what she guessed was the starman's leg. "So how are you alive?"

"This is…" the starman trailed off. "Oh, how do I explain it? It is my psionic spirit incarnated into a physical form."

"That's ridiculous," Monotoli said.

"It was how the Osohe were created," the starman said. "The Osohe queen Lorraine took the spirits of dead humans, molded them a bit with her godlike powers, and brought them over to the physical world. That is why they were so powerful. That is why _I_ am so powerful."

"So are you a savant?" Diana asked.

"Not quite. Psionic savants have to change their cognitive spirits in drastic ways. They have to take out all personality and convert it into energy to power their psionics. This is a similar idea, but it is not as efficient."

"But if you die," Monotoli said. "You'll lose your spirit instead of your body. You'll fade away forever."

"That is not a concern for us starmen," Diana's father whirred. "We serve Master Giygas, through life and death."

Diana looked down at the tentacle-like arms wrapped around her wrist. She realized that they weren't colored grey like normal starmen; instead, it looked a dark purple, almost black. It was the color of death itself.

"I am what is called 'ghost of starman'," Mr. Carpainter said. "Now, my daughter, it is time for you to lose consciousness."

Diana felt a force pushing on her mind. She gasped in pain and struggled to resist it with her psionic aura, although she could feel it depleting rapidly. If she could move her hands, then she could heal herself back up, but she knew that her father wouldn't let her out of his tentacle-armed grip.

"Just give in," the starman whirred, its voice almost soothing. "You cannot escape no matter what. Just let me take care of you."

 _No!_ Diana thought. _You won't force me to do anything ever again, father! I'm done with you and your schemes._

Diana's vision started to go black. The pain turned to agony as she let out a whimper.

 _Must… hold on…_

Diana fell unconscious.

(ILH)

Apollo Carpainter felt a pang of guilt when his daughter went limp in his starman arms. She was dangerous, though, and Giygas commanded him to neutralize her. As much as it pained him to turn his strength against his daughter, resisting a direct order from Giygas was unfathomable.

 _This is what you signed up for,_ Apollo thought. _The rest of the starmen are mindless drones, but you had a choice._

"Psych," Geldegarde Monotoli said. "I feel _bad_ for her. That hasn't happened in a long time. What now, starman? I assume we kill her?"

Kill? Giygas had never told him to do that. He simply wanted her gone.

"I will take care of her," Apollo Carpainter said in his starman voice. "Oversee this war that you have started, human."

"Master Giygas will send me starman to fight the rebels, yes?" Monotoli said.

"Indeed," Apollo lied. "We will ensure that you crush anyone who comes your way. Giygas wishes for you to remain the ruler of these measly humans."

"You have my thanks, then," Monotoli said.

Surprisingly, the human didn't look happy. In fact, he looked downright _miserable._ Didn't these creatures lust for power? That was what Apollo had always been told. Maybe there was more to them than met the eye.

"Goodbye," Apollo Carpainter said, teleporting away with Diana.

He appeared back on the planet of Vulcan in the house that he raised Diana and Minerva in. Unlike the rest of the planet, this location wasn't as dreary and the air wasn't outright toxic. With his limited physical senses, Apollo had a hard time telling, but he thought that he saw plants growing outside.

The house had been kept neat for the couple of years that nobody had lived there. Memories flooded back into Apollo's mind. Diana smiling as she shot her first successful arrow. The wistful look in Minerva's eyes as she talked about travelling to Ceres or Earth. Diana literally jumping up and down while showing her sister a multicolored insect while Apollo watched from the background.

Giygas had told Apollo to see if humans could be controlled and imprinted from birth. He had made it sound like any properly conditioned children would be mindless robots like starmen. But even when they only knew the lies of their father's cult, Minerva and Diana Carpainter found ways to take joy in life. Apollo hadn't expected that.

Apollo Carpainter set his remaining daughter down on the floor. Would he have volunteered for the experiment of creating a cult if he knew that his children would turn out like this? Probably not.

"I'm sorry for everything," Apollo said. "The least that I can do is leave you alive and unrestrained."

He stroked his daughter's face with a tentacle and teleported away.

* * *

 **Diana's always been an interesting character to me ever since I introduced her, and I appreciated the opportunity to explore Monotoli here a bit more. It does make me wonder: do you think that dictators are happy people? I'm not sure myself.**

 **Apollo Carpainter:** Mr. Carpainter, the head cultist of the Happy Happyists. In this fic, they were dedicated towards hunting down starmen disguised as humans, but it turns out that Carpainter was a starman disguised as a human himself. This makes Diana and Minerva half-starman.

 **Ghost of Starman:** A late-game enemy in Earthbound. I don't think the game gave a ton of context about these, so I created a backstory for them. Basically, they're starman spirits that Giygas brought over to the physical world, which he can do after reading the code in Kumatora to see how Lorraine did it for the Osohe.


	29. Chapter 25: Angel of Death

_I think that our problems with Queen Lorraine were more human-like in nature than we would like to admit. We resisted and yelled at each other because we couldn't really understand where the other side was coming from. It was easier to block out the legitimacy of our opponents' cries._

 _I am living proof of the dire consequences that stemmed from misunderstandings._

* * *

Jeff Andonuts walked through the halls of Ceres' psionics school. Claus followed a few steps behind, grumbling about how he lacked his usual breastplate. Jeff ignored him and entered the cafeteria. Strolling through the lunch area would provide him with the quickest way to reach the lab with all of his supplies in it.

As he opened the door and walked into the brightly colored cafeteria, the sound of the blaring televisions was the only noise to cut through the silence. He halted, prompting Claus to nearly walk into him. Had everyone left for vacation?

Jeff glanced over at the TVs, seeing groups of students clustered around each one. The televisions were mounted on the walls high enough so that most people could see them from cafeteria tables, yet students still crowded around to get a better view.

Once Jeff saw what the televisions were showing, he understood why.

The TVs displayed armed soldiers pointing laser guns at civilians, officers beating people with batons and white iron gauntlets. Most of the victims looked young, and when they cried in pain and fell one by one, Jeff could almost see different faces.

Paula. Tony. Ness.

None of the students crowded around the TVs spoke, and their complexion went pale even by Ceres standards. The people out on the streets, beaten and bleeding, could have easily been them. Claus walked up next to Jeff with crossed arms, and the two watched for minutes.

"Why does the army have to be so violent?" one of the students finally spoke. "I mean, I understand not appreciating the protests, but it's not like we're dangerous."

We. That was a good start.

"Yeah," another student said, a sneer coming to her face. "I guess this is what we get when Monotoli's takes charge without being elected. He can't handle all of the power that comes with being a president. Have you guys _heard_ all of the accusations against him? Business scams, assassinations of political rivals… the list goes on and on."

 _I had almost forgotten,_ Jeff thought. _We're not the only ones who care about what's happening in the universe. Some of these people here are just as outraged as I am._

"I guess it's different when they can see it happening right in front of their eyes," Claus said, keeping his voice down. "Maybe those televisions are good for something after all."

At that point, Pokey's father Aloysius Minch walked up to one of the groups watching the TVs. His face looked even redder than most of the students' as he hissed at them like a snake.

"You kids need to learn some respect!" he shouted, pointing at the girl who criticized Monotoli. "Geldegarde Monotoli is our _president,_ and you will treat him with respect. He also is in charge of this school, so you may want to think about all that he's done for you."

 _Oh right,_ Jeff thought. _Forgot that guy was even a teacher._

"He's the president because Minerva Carpainter died," the girl said, standing up straight. "Just _look_ at what he's doing! Even if you don't agree with what the protestors are saying, how can you be okay with watching Monotoli's soldiers beat harmless civilians?"

"Not all human soldiers, either," another girl said, pointing at the screen. "Look."

Jeff turned his attention back to the television and saw a number of soldiers made out of hardened green goop. They held swords and spears just like the humans soldiers, jabbing the weapons at protestors and drawing blood from those who stepped close.

 _Thank goodness for the people filming this,_ Jeff thought. _It must be dangerous out there, and I doubt that Monotoli appreciates it. The people spreading the word around through TV are accomplishing more than psions with fancy powers._

"Your job isn't to question your president," Aloysius Minch said. "Your job is to obey. Now get back to your normal routine or I'll throw you all in detention!"

"Eating lunch is our normal routine, sir," one of the students said. "And sometimes we watch the television while eating. This is nothing out of the ordinary."

"Nothing out of the…" Aloysius cut himself off, his face growing even redder. "You little brats! You know what I mean."

"We know exactly what you mean," said the girl who first criticized Monotoli. "You want to turn us all into mindless drones who can't think for ourselves."

As Mr. Minch sputtered in anger, Jeff tapped Claus' shoulder and started to walk off.

"I have an idea," Jeff said.

"Hmm?" Claus said. "Well, it's probably better than anything I can think of. Out with it."

"You know how this school has a speaker system, right?"

"It does?" Claus said. "I figured that psions just projected their voices with psionics whenever they wanted the whole school to hear."

"But not everyone in this school is a psion," Jeff said. "Sometimes regular people need to make announcements. There's a microphone in the dean's office that projects to the entire school."

"Okay. I'm starting to see where this is going…"

Jeff smiled.

"Right," he said. "After I get my supplies from the lab, why don't we try to rally the students to get involved?"

"You mean you want them to fight against the Ceresian army?" Claus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Whatever they want," Jeff said. "Most of the non-psions should probably be doing other tasks. What do you say?"

"Sure," Claus asked. "Let's try to harness the fact that these students _aren't_ the mindless drones that Monotoli wants us to be."

Jeff gulped and nodded. He had spent plenty of time going against the rules, but every time he disobeyed the law he felt a tingling sensation in the back of his spine like someone was watching him and judging him.

 _By the end of today, a lot of people are going to be judging me anyway,_ Jeff thought.

"Let's go," Jeff said.

* * *

Ninten fought through the never-ending group of chimera wolves, using his ectoplasmic attacks to keep them at bay for Kumatora to unload on while also stabbing any wolves that got near him with his sword. Before long, his sword ran red with blood and he felt his psionic energy running low.

"Psych," Ninten said, sticking a wolf through the eye. "I don't think that we can handle all of these by ourselves."

Kumatora scowled, lighting a section of the hallway on fire. The wolves yelped in pain but slogged through without serious injuries.

"We _have_ to keep going," Kumatora said. "If we don't, these chimeras will reach the city."

"I'm not so sure," Ninten said. "I mean, how would Monotoli really control them? I would think that he'd have a hard time leading them to a specific place."

"That's not an excuse to just ignore the chimeras in front of us," Kumatora said. "That slug always has another trick up his sleeve."

"You mean Monotoli or an actual slug chimera?" Ninten joked.

Kumatora rolled her eyes, firing off a shockwave of energy from her mind. Ninten put up a wall made of ectoplasm to halt the wolves' advance. The wolves gnawed on it and made slow progress breaking through the hardened goo.

"How are your reserves?" Kumatora asked.

"I'm almost out. You?"

"Same." Kumatora's face darkened. "Despite what I said earlier, I don't know what we're going to do. How many of these psyching wolves _are_ there?"

As if to taunt Kumatora, another group of wolves appeared at the other end of the hallway. They charged at Ninten and Kumatora, snapping their jaws.

"Great," Ninten said, creating a field of sticky goo to slow their advance. "Now we've got problems on both sides."

"This is worse than fighting starmen," Kumatora said. "I can appreciate a human trying to defend themself and fighting for a cause, but killing these mindless beasts is a chore. A _dangerous_ chore, no less."

 _Speak for yourself,_ Ninten thought. _I'd be happy doing chores instead of this._

Kumatora fired off bolts of energy at the new group of wolves, dropping several of them.

"These guys are a lot less sturdy than the hippos, at least," Kumatora said. "But I really need a way to get more psionic energy. I can't keep this up for much longer."

"I would offer you mine, but I'm almost out as well," Ninten said.

Kumatora took a deep breath. The wolves on either side of them still faced an ectoplasmic wall and a field of goo, respectively. They had a couple moments to address their mental states before leaping back into combat.

"We can't win," Kumatora said. "You're psyching right."

"Then what do we do?"

"Follow me," Kumatora said.

Kumatora thrust the door to the chimera labs open and dashed out. Ninten blinked. Kumatora? Running away? It would be easier to find a cow that didn't eat grass. Ninten shrugged and followed, his heart pounding in his chest. The wolves snapped and growled at him as he exited the chimera labs.

Ninten ran through a field of burnt grass, remembering how Kumatora had set fire to the whole area before. He saw Kumatora still running away and increased his pace to gain distance on her. She slowed to an eventual halt and waited for Ninten to catch up.

"Sorry about not telling you anything," Kumatora said. "But we needed to act quickly."

Kumatora pointed back at the entrance to the chimera labs. Ninten took a break from panting to follow her finger and saw wolves streaming out through the entrance. It would still take them quite some time to reach Kumatora and Ninten with the distance that they put between themselves and the labs.

"Wait," Ninten said. "You don't seriously mean to fight _here,_ do you? There's no way that we can win in such an open area. They'll surround us and drag us to the ground before we get a chance to take out a quarter of their number."

"I don't mean to fight them in the traditional manner," Kumatora said, her blue eyes blazing. "Just wait."

Ninten found it harder and harder to stand still as more wolves came out of the labs. He attempted a head count and reached 20 before giving up and guessing that there were around 60 or 70.

"Thanks for trusting me, Ninten," Kumatora said. "I promise that I won't let you down."

More wolves exited the labs, snarling and yapping. Ninten used every bit of willpower left in him to keep from running away and abandoning Kumatora.

"Almost there…" Kumatora said, tensing her muscles.

The stream of wolves exiting the chimera labs petered out.

"PK Starstorm!" Kumatora shouted.

Orbs of energy fell from the sky, exploding with enough force to kill any wolf in the blast radius. Kumatora held her hands up to the sky, as if calling upon the heavens. Ninten looked at her expression and saw the pain written on her face. Her grimace and trembling body gave the impression that she was summoning a force too powerful to control.

An explosion sounded just an arm's length away from Kumatora. She didn't even flinch, instead letting out a determined shout. The wolves continued to charge forward, but the random explosions took out each one of them before they made it close.

After only a few moments, the area outside the chimera labs became a slaughter field littered with blood and guts. The last wolf standing whimpered before an explosion took it out.

Kumatora halted the PK Starstorm. Silence reigned as Ninten looked at the remains of the wolves and the explosive scars left on the ground.

Even though the chimeras Kumatora killed were little more than drones, Ninten couldn't help but drink in the horrified awe that came with seeing such complete desolation.

"I am an angel of death," Kumatora said, sinking to her knees. "Only… kill."

"Kumatora!" Ninten said, grabbing onto her arms and pulling her back to her feet.

She offered a weak smile and shook his hands off.

"It's okay, Ninten. This is why I was created. I am an agent of chaos."

Kumatora fell to the ground unconscious.

* * *

After getting his weapons, armor, and other devices from the lab, Jeff Andonuts snuck into the dean's office. It proved disturbingly easy with the psionic lock pick that he didn't even remember obtaining.

Once inside, he turned on the loudspeaker systems and gave a speech aimed at getting the students to help the protestors and innocent bystanders against the wrath of the Ceresian government. He didn't remember much of it, although he was _sure_ that he delivered it poorly. He told anyone who wanted to participate to meet him outside of the school and left with his shoulders slouched.

"I screwed that up, didn't I?" Jeff asked Claus. "I wanted to inspire people, but I just sounded like a regular, mumbling teenager. It's bad enough that I can't use psionics; do I have to suck at everything else, too?"

"It was better than I could have done," Claus said with a shrug. "I have trouble addressing large crowds. Besides, you have your own strengths."

"Yeah, at building machines used to _kill_ people," Jeff said. "The sky runners that we saw on television were dropping bottle rockets similar to the ones I manufactured in Scaraba."

"Why don't we just see who shows up?" Claus said. "We can work from there."

"Hmph," Jeff said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sure, I guess we might as well."

Nothing that Jeff had seen could prepare him for what he saw upon exiting the school.

He had expected a few quirky people to answer Jeff's request and join him outside, but there were _hundreds._ Students shouted and cheered as Jeff and Claus exited the school. Hundreds of regular people just like Jeff felt passionately enough about this subject to get involved.

They cheered even louder as more students exited the building. Jeff let himself smile at the crowd of determined students ready to change the universe. His speech had been _horrible,_ and no excuses that came to his mind would make up for that fact. So why did so many people listen and follow his instructions?

"Look," Claus said. "There's the girl who stood up against Pokey's father earlier."

Jeff looked over and saw her conversing with a number of people who just exited the school. After a few minutes, the group of students settled down.

"We've got at least a dozen psions," Claus said. "That's not bad at all."

"This is a _disgrace!_ " came an adult's voice nearby.

Jeff turned towards the entrance to see Mr. Fork, the dean of the school, walking towards the crowd of students. A number of teachers followed him from behind.

"They've got a couple of psions as teachers," Claus said. "Be careful."

"You students here are branding yourselves as criminals," Mr. Fork said. "Criminals!"

"Do you think that word will cause us to break and run?" the girl who argued against Aloysius earlier said. "We understand what we're doing, Dean Fork. The Ceresian government that controls this school is taking military action against civilians. We will stand up and help those who deserve and need it, not who we're told to support."

"Are you the one who started this entire charade?" Mr. Fork asked.

"Did it _sound_ like my voice?" the girl said. "No. It wasn't me. I'm just… a vocal supporter of this movement." she smiled.

"And what might your name be, young miss?"

"Nana."

Claus sucked in a breath of air. Jeff turned to look at him and bit back a comment when he saw Claus' eye wide open in shock.

"There's no _psyching_ way…" Claus said.

"What is it?" Jeff asked.

"Could it be?" Claus said. "I guess I can sort of see it…"

"Claus!"

Claus shook his head, as if waking up from a trance.

"Oh, right," Claus said. "She looks like someone I knew from Aphrodite, and she shares the name."

 _Another survivor?_ Jeff thought. _They're popping up all around, these days. Claus, Lucas, Kumatora, and now this Nana?_

"Now," Mr. Fork said. "Let me demonstrate what happens to students who cannot behave themselves."

The next moment, Nana started to float in the air. The students around her cried out, but she stared Mr. Fork down and cracked a smirk.

"Do you think that you can hurt me with this?" Nana asked. "Toss me up in the air and _play_ with my body? That's exactly what Ceres is trying to do to the protestors. They use force to get their way instead of listening to the will of the people."

Nana's body floated over to the group of teachers. Her face jerked to the side as if slapped, a bruise appearing on her cheek.

"Quiet," Mr. Fork growled. "It is my _job_ to keep order."

"They beat us because they are afraid," Nana said. "They know that we can defeat them if we all band together, so they lash out to create an illusion of security and order. But is this the world that you want to live in? A world where the strong use force to get what they want while the weak suffer?"

"Fork doesn't get it," Claus said. "The more he hurts her, the more her arguments make sense."

"You sound like an expert on this," Jeff said, raising an eyebrow.

"It happened in Tazmily," Claus said. "Old man Wess harnessed the anger of our little village when the pigmasks took over and executed the mayor. The pigmasks treated us more and more harshly, but we just got angrier and angrier."

"So did you manage to drive the pigmasks out?" Jeff asked.

"Nah, they had tanks and guns while we fought with sticks and clubs," Claus said. "The pigmasks ended up killing pretty much everyone in the village before razing it to the ground."

 _And Monotoli's army could do the same to us,_ Jeff thought. _What if I just pushed these people to their deaths?_

"Don't worry," Claus said. "It will be different this time. Remember, Darius and Kim have an army that's ready to step in if things get nasty."

"Good people of Ceres," Nana said. "Please, do not worry about me. These government officials will never be able to break my spirit."

Students cheered and shouted at the teachers. Mr. Fork's face reddened.

"Silence!" he shouted, and Nana's body dropped to the ground. "Who is the person that organized all of this?"

Jeff took a deep breath. Could he really face Mr. Fork's angry expression and disapproving tone? He always pictured himself standing up to authority in heroic ways, but now that the time came he wanted nothing more than to run away and hide.

No, that wasn't quite right. Jeff wanted to hide, yes, but he wanted to help the people of Ceres even more. This was his opportunity to make a positive difference in the universe.

"I am," Jeff said, talking as loudly as he could. "I snuck into your office. I sent the message through the loudspeaker. It wasn't my finest speech, but I guess it did the trick."

"Am I supposed to believe this?" Mr. Fork said. "That you just… did this all by yourself? As a bumbling _first-year?_ "

"No," Jeff said. "I didn't do this all by myself. What you see in front of you is a collective interest, Dean Fork. I lit the fuse, perhaps, but the cannon was ready to fire from the start. We are the people of Ceres. We may not have the firepower of the army or the wisdom that comes with age, but we can still recognize that what Monotoli is doing needs to be stopped. This isn't about me or Nana, Mr. Fork. This is about all of us."

The students erupted after Jeff's finishing line. They shouted for the teachers to let Nana go, for the teachers to let them act as free people, and for the teachers to see who Monotoli _really_ was. Jeff smiled. He never thought that he could impact a crowd in such a way.

"I think it was your passion," Claus said. "Anyone could tell how much you want to help the universe, Jeff. Even if these students don't entirely know it, they're following your moral lead."

Jeff looked over at Mr. Fork, who took a step back. After a moment, the dean slouched his shoulders.

"So that's how it is, then?" Mr. Fork asked. "Fine. I suppose if you won't let us stop you, then we shouldn't waste our effort fighting against misguided students." He shook his head. "This will probably cost me my job."

"Thank you for understanding," Nana said, getting back on her feet. "And thank you to Jeff for presenting us with this wonderful opportunity. It's time to fight for what we believe in!"

"Wait," Jeff said to Claus. "She knows my name?"

"You're kind of a hot topic around school," Claus said with a shrug. "Being a super genius and all."

Jeff felt his cheeks redden. He tried to bury his embarrassment as he cleared his throat.

"And remember," Jeff said. "Every person can choose their own path. I expect most of us to be uncomfortable with combat. That's fine. Anyone who would rather help escort civilians or aid the wounded will be appreciated. If you would rather not enter the scene of conflict at all, there's no shame in that. The local hospitals will need volunteers with all of the steel flying around."

Students cheered and nodded.

"Indeed," Nana said. "Let us organize ourselves into groups. As soon as we do that, we'll take off and go perform our various tasks. Let us all work together to make Ceres a better place!"

"What do you want to do, Jeff?" Claus asked. "Do you want to stay out of the conflict? Help civilians trying to escape?"

Jeff took a deep breath.

"No," Jeff said. "There are times to take the route of a pacifist, but _somebody_ needs to stop the Ceresian military before it inflicts too much damage. I'm fighting."

Claus flashed a toothy smile.

"Then I'm in with you," he said.

* * *

"Okay," Venus said. "The door to my father's room is locked. Did our mass murderer friend come up with a way to get past this?"

Ana bashed a shoulder against the wooden door. It didn't budge.

"Easy there, girl," Venus said. "This door's reinforced by psionics. You're not going to break through it even if you summon your axe."

Ana shrugged.

"Worth a shot," she said.

"Hmm," Tracy said. "Does it strike you as odd that Monotoli has wooden walls and doors in his office? The rest of this place is made out of crystal, right?"

"It's a privacy thing," Venus said with a shrug. "The point is that we're not getting in."

"Wait," Tracy said, furrowing her eyebrows as examined the door handle. "This door would have normal locking mechanics, right? Like, you insert a key and turn it?"

"That's how doors generally work," Venus said.

"Is there a way you can use that to our advantage?" Ana asked Tracy.

"I think so. Doors unlock when you put pressure on certain parts of the lock's insides, right? That's how a key works. It fits well so that you can turn it and activate the inside mechanics of the lock."

"Yeah," Venus said. "What about it?"

"Well," Tracy said. "Why don't we just push on the inside of the lock with our psionics?"

Tracy muttered an incantation. After a few moments, the door made a _click_ noise. Tracy turned the knob and found it unlocked. She wore a smug smile as she opened the door to Monotoli's personal office.

"Psych," Venus said. "I can see why Ana brought you along."

Tracy beamed. Ana walked into the room, taking a quick survey. It looked mostly normal with desks, papers, and files.

However, it was difficult to look at anything other than the glittering gold statue in the back corner of the room.

"So that's it," Venus said, walking in. "The Mani Mani statue. I guess your friend was telling the truth after all."

"So how do we kill it?" Tracy asked.

 _"Paralysis."_

Ana looked over at the Mani Mani statue. Yes, it was definitely the one who used the psionic power. Ana could see its dark, psionic aura radiating outwards. The next moment, Tracy let out a growl. Ana looked over at her to see her body frozen stiff in place. She could still move her hands in specific ways, meaning that she could still use psionics, but Ana doubted that she would be able to fight much more.

"Psych this!" Venus said. "PK Freeze."

The statue let out a telepathic cry as ice encased it. After a few moments, the statue broke out. The Mani Mani statue used Mind Thrust, sending a blast of psionic energy into Venus' head. The pop singer grunted and grabbed her head in pain.

"Okay," Ana said. "Let's see if a good, old-fashioned whacking works. Call weapon."

A warhammer appeared in Ana's hands. She smashed the hammer into the Mani Mani and received a Mind Thrust back in response. She continued smashing the statue with her weapon as it let out telepathic cries and fought back by attacking her mind.

"Help me, Venus!" Ana said. "I'll beat this thing up while you heal me."

Venus nodded, running over and using Lifeup on Ana. The Mani Mani statue continued to assault Ana with Mind Thrust, but she smiled through the pain and used it to fuel her strength. The Mani Mani statue tried to paralyze her, but she resisted the attack with her psionic aura. Slowly but consistently, she managed to whittle down the statue's aura while making some dents with her hammer.

After what felt like an eternity, the Mani Mani statue started to crack. Ana put her entire weight behind her next swing and nearly took the statue's head off.

"Don't break it," came a voice from behind Ana. "It's a trap."

Ana whirled around despite years of combat instincts that protested leaving an enemy out of sight. Geldegarde Monotoli stood in the room, shaking his head and letting out of a sigh.

"Was _this_ why Diana Carpainter tried to lure me away?" Monotoli asked. "Healing."

Tracy gasped, breaking free from her paralyzed state. She shook her arms and her legs, probably to try and restore some feeling to them.

"She told us that Giygas was influencing you through the statue," Venus said. "Was she lying?"

"I'm guessing that she believed what she told you," Monotoli said.

"I'll trust her more than you, mass murderer or no," Ana said, raising her hammer to deliver another blow to the Mani Mani statue.

She swung, but Monotoli made a hand motion and the statue flew upwards, leaving her hammer to swing through air. The Mani Mani statue floated above Ana's hammer, teasingly out of reach.

"Fine," Monotoli said. "I'll destroy it to show you."

The Mani Mani statue disappeared from the office and reappeared right outside the window. It floated further and further away. Once the statue was far away from any buildings, Monotoli snapped. The Mani Mani statue exploded, the blast radius nearly reaching the capitol building from a hundred armlengths away.

"The dark aura around it was a nice touch, if I do say so myself," Monotoli said. "I figured anyone looking through my records would _have_ to notice such a clearly malicious statue. And if someone tried to fight it …" Monotoli smiled. "It might not kill a hardened psion, but at least it would destroy any evidence."

"So Giygas wasn't controlling you through the statue," Venus said. "The bombings, the slaughter. It's all you, father."

"Trying to find an excuse to paint your dear old dad as something other than a monster, Erine?" Monotoli asked Venus. "I'm sorry to inform you that I really am just a terrible person. I sometimes work with Giygas, but he doesn't control me."

"So what are you going to do with us?" Tracy asked.

"I'm glad you asked." Monotoli walked over and sat down at his desk. "I'm going to offer you a deal."

* * *

 **Having Gigyas actually control people with the Mani Mani statue would go against the themes of this fic (particularly how mass suffering is caused by historical and current abuses from people instead of abstract evil forces), so I had him use it as a bait instead.**

 **Also, Jeff's finally starting to come into his own here. It's about time.**


	30. Chapter 26: In the Name of Order

_Lorraine said that she gave us superior understanding and perspective over other animals like humans, but I wonder…_

 _Because even if we are better, we weren't good enough. A traitor worked with Giygas to engineer our downfall instead of appealing to other Osohe to solve our own problem._

 _While I cannot judge him too harshly, I wonder if we are so different from the human societies that we put ourselves above._

* * *

Jeff Andonuts ran towards the smoke and fire, a dozen students at his sides. All of them except for Claus carried one of Jeff's laser guns.

Only thirteen students wished to fight the Ceresian military head-on, and Jeff couldn't blame a single person who opted out. It was one thing to save lives, and it was quite another to kill. Plus, the danger was hardly a reward for such a heavy-handed task. Even Nana, who vocally opposed Monotoli, opted to assist fleeing civilians rather than combating the Ceresian military.

Jeff dashed forward and entered a ruined town square. Flames licked at a wooden statue of the Roman Goddess Ceres herself. Bricks and stone lay strewn about; Jeff could see the dents wherever bombs exploded on the ground. The blood and guts strewn across the square could attest to the effectiveness of those explosives.

A sky runner flew past and dropped bombs that Jeff identified as his own model of bottle rockets on a street nearby. Jeff clenched his hands into fists, letting out a low growl. It had been a terrible mistake to create those bottle rockets, and it had been a bigger mistake to let the Scarabans refine the process and allow their manufacture with a simple assembly line.

Well, that might not be true. Jeff wouldn't know how the future would turn out if he hadn't created the bottle rockets. Still, they were his creation and he couldn't help take every scream that he heard and place it on his back like a bag of bricks.

 _I hope that I am forgiven,_ Jeff thought. _Maybe I can do enough good to outweigh the bad that I have created._

"Come on!" Claus shouted. "They're in the street right over!"

Claus pointed to the street that the sky runners just dropped bombs on. Now that Jeff thought about it, Dr. Andonuts had invented the sky runners with the intention of improving transport systems. It looked like both he and his father had unwittingly changed the state of warfare itself.

Jeff and the other students rushed into the street to see buildings smoking. People ran out towards Jeff, screaming and carrying their children. The Ceresian army advanced through the smoke, and Jeff could see a band of protestors drop their signs and run away along with the bystanders. Men who wore white breastplate and carried massive swords strode forward with a swagger that Jeff normally associated with movie villains.

"Let's see if we can deal with this peacefully," Jeff said.

The soldiers used their gleaming swords to slice and stab fleeing protestors. Jeff saw one of the soldiers smiling as he ran his blade through the chest of a boy younger than Jeff.

"Fuck that," Claus said. "Open fire with stunning shots."

Jeff and the other students raised their laser guns and fired at the soldiers. Jeff picked out the civilians from the government-hired thugs by looking for white armor and polished weapons. The Ceresian soldiers dropped to the stun bolts one by one until eventually none remained. While other students ran forward to assist injured civilians, Jeff marveled at his own laser gun.

 _Even with a simple design, there's so much power,_ Jeff thought. _I can feel it flooding through me. I point, aim, and shoot. That's all I need to knock someone out_

The simplicity and ease of that the laser gun provided startled Jeff. If he changed the energy bolts to contain lethal energy, he could kill nearly _anyone._ He would never do such a thing, of course, but what about someone else? And would Jeff get so used to killing from afar that he would eventually start to see people's lives as disposable?

 _This must be what it feels like to be a psion,_ Jeff thought.

"Back in formation!" Claus shouted. "More coming from the other direction!"

A squad of soldiers rushed onto the street from the same entrance that the students had used just minutes earlier. They took one look at the students' attire before charging forward. Most of them ran towards Claus.

"Oh no you don't!" Jeff said, firing off a laser that took a soldier in the chest.

The remaining soldiers looked at all of the laser guns in the students' hands in horror. Some of them broke and ran away while others continued to charge forward. Claus engaged a pair of soldiers while the remaining students fumbled to use their guns. A few stunning blasts from students with psionic powers took out many of the soldiers while lasers from guns and Claus' sword finished the rest.

"Psych," Claus said, wiping the blood off of his sword. "Trying not to kill people is harder than I remembered."

The students returned to helping civilians. The psions healed up the injured while others provided reassurance and directions. Jeff saw nothing for him to do and approached Claus.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Jeff asked. "I mean, it's hard for me to see people use my creations to hurt, but what about you? Do you ever feel like you're just making everything worse?"

"Maybe if I kill someone," Claus said. "Too easy to see myself standing on the other side."

"I don't think that we would have been soldiers," Jeff said, putting a hand on Claus' shoulder.

"Maybe _you_ wouldn't have, but I always fantasized about war as a little kid," Claus said. "Even rubbed off on Lucas. We wanted to be like the heroes in the stories who could slice through an entire squad and still make it home for dinner. Now we both can." Claus chuckled. "Like it's done either of us any good."

"I'm… sorry," Jeff said, not sure how else to respond.

"Ah, save your pity," Claus said. "I'm in this with you, Jeff. When people show that they're willing to target those who just want a peaceful conversation, I think that we need to step in and defend them. And in the heat of the moment, you can't reason with these soldiers. They're trained to kill rather than listen, and sometimes you just have to fight back. I'm just glad that we're not killing anyone."

Jeff heard the sounds of hoof beats in the distance. Claus perked up as the sounds approached their street at a rapid pace.

"Hold up!" Claus said. "We might have another enemy force on our hands."

The students gathered back together.

"No, wait!" Claus said. "They have psions. Spread out so they can't blow us all up with a single PK Fire."

The students followed Claus' instructions, spacing themselves apart.

 _Since when does the Ceresian military use horses?_ Jeff thought.

The ground shook as the horses got even closer. A force of mounted soldiers entered the street, but one look told Jeff that they didn't belong to the Ceresian army. A second look focused on the person at the front of the group left Jeff in shock. The horses slowed to a halt in front of the students.

Prince Poo of Dalaam trotted his horse up to Claus and smiled.

"I thought that I detected psions in this area," Poo said.

(ILH)

Starman Jenny looked at the screen in the sky that displayed the outside world. She could tell that Mary's body was pacing around in the starman base, but she couldn't hope to guess why.

Mary also stood right next to starman Jenny. Or maybe this was just Mary's good side that had been banished to the back of her mind? Whatever it was, her puffy eyes and strained expression alerted Jenny to her exhausted state. She was getting better at reading human expressions.

Also standing next to Jenny was Fassad, the magypsy. Jenny had asked him a few questions about his past, but he had deflected them and changed the subject each time. Jenny knew that starman couldn't really _feel_ curiosity, but she made it one of her goals to obtain more information about this man.

Hinawa was the only one missing. She rarely showed up within the walls of Magicant's little town. Mary said that monsters lay beyond the metal spires that acted as a barrier to the rest of her mind, but neither her nor Fassad appeared to care whenever Hinawa went missing. Jenny supposed that they must know more about the situation than she did and didn't press the issue.

"Your body looks distressed," Fassad said. "Whatever guilt you're feeding it is working, Mary."

"Yes, but the true test is yet to come." Mary offered a weak smile. "Ah, nothing like the power of conscience to hold people back. I never really saw that as a strength until now."

"Excuse me," Jenny said. "But I don't understand. Could you talk a little more…"

"Plainly?" Mary asked. "Yes, yes. Basically, my body is under control of Giygas, but I'm a little part of Mary that's doing her best to resist."

"And given what Fassad said, I assume that you're doing a good job?" Jenny asked.

"Well, I got her not to kill that woman Diana a while back," Mary said. "Although that was _close._ Diana shouldn't have assumed that I would be shell-shocked from my own actions."

"But her gambit paid off," Fassad said. "Now the Mary out there doesn't know what to believe."

"A stalling tactic," Mary said with a shrug. "Eventually, I'll swing one way or the other. I'll side with life or death. I'm guessing that it will happen when Giygas calls me to battle. Which will be… soon."

"I'm surprised he hasn't summoned you already," Fassad said. "Didn't you tell me that Ceres is engaged in flat-out battle with its own citizens and the Dalaamian army?"

"Giygas is waiting for them to kill each other," Jenny said. "Both Geldegarde Monotoli and the Kim's nephew Darius work for him, meaning that he has a stake in both sides of the conflict. He'll be able to control the throne no matter which side wins."

Mary and Fassad fell silent.

"What?" Jenny said. "What did I say?"

"Classic Gigyas," Mary said. "For someone so different from a human, he understands manipulation quite well."

"I've been wondering," Fassad said.

"That's a first," Mary muttered under her breath.

"I can't help my curiosity," Fassad said with a conceding shrug. "What is Giygas' end game? What does he want from all this? I mean, I know that you starmen can't actually _want_ things, and I would assume he's the same, but…"

"But why do any of this?" Jenny finished. "I understand what you mean. I do not know why Giygas targets human civilization specifically. All that I can say is that Giygas exists to absorb more information."

"So Giygas is invading Ceres because it's something new and he could gain knowledge from the experience?" Fassad asked. "By our standards, it seems crazy."

"I can see it happening," Mary said. "A psionic savant's mind does not work much differently from a starman's or Giygas'. I don't really know _why_ I killed all of those people back in Scaraba, and I'm guessing that Giygas doesn't think about it that way either. But maybe at the heart of it, we were both trying to test our powers and gather data."

Jenny transmitted telepathic agreement. She took so much interest in humans because there was so much to learn about them. Perhaps when orderly beings like her gained wills of their own, they went after whatever would teach them the most.

So was Jenny really any different from Giygas or Mary as a psionic savant? While Jenny explored the realm of humans, Giygas and Mary explored the realm of death and destruction. To them, it was all data and numbers. Learning about death was no different than learning about humanity.

"Well, I think it's time for me to take my leave," Mary said. "I'll try to worm myself back into my conscious mind."

"While we're stuck here in the unconscious realm of Magicant," Fassad said.

"If I have the opportunity to pull the sword out and set us all free, I'll do it," Mary said.

"We would go from this prison in Magicant to another prison in that sword," Fassad said. "Thanks for the thought, but I don't really mind either way. The only person who that would help is Jenny here."

 _That's right,_ Jenny thought. _If all of their spirits go back into the sword and get taken out of Mary's body, I can control it again._

She almost _felt_ something at the prospect of living as a human again. A surge of activity in her wiring mechanisms, perhaps? There was no way that Jenny could feel anything deeper.

But then again, human emotions were little more than the result of specific neurotransmitters in the brain. Just like starman wirings, the behavior of humans could be reduced down to the molecular level. It was just much, _much_ more complicated.

So if humans could feel true emotions with mechanical bodies ruled by chemistry and physics, could Starman Jenny do the same?

* * *

"An offer?" Ana said. "That sounds a lot like blackmail."

"Honestly, all three of you can disappear off the face of the universe and I won't give a psych," Monotoli said. "I'm starting to get tired of inflicting pain. What am I here? What's my role in the universe? Scheming and plotting for power distracted me from those questions, but now I want answers. I don't think that I can find them by holding knives to people's throats."

"Father…" Venus said.

"Isn't this better, Erine?" Monotoli asked. "Didn't you always tell me to change myself? Well, now I am. You should be happy."

"What pushed you over the edge?" Venus said, her eyes flashing with anger. "I know that you're not changing because your heart finally thawed. You're changing because you can't take the pain anymore. That's what I did when I became Venus, father."

"And it served you well," Monotoli said.

"You didn't answer my question," Venus said, her eyes narrowing.

"I don't intend to. Would you like to hear about my offer?"

"Sure," Tracy said. "We owe you that much since you saved us from your trap."

"It was a mistake to fight against the protestors," Monotoli said. "They made me angry. They made me feel powerless. When backed into a corner, I lashed out against my better judgment."

Ana nodded. This was a good start.

"However," Monotoli said. "I cannot go back."

"Why not?" Tracy asked.

"The protestors play a larger part than even they know. The entire plan revolved around getting me to use force against the protestors until I went over the edge."

"What plan?" Ana asked. "I assume this wasn't a plan you knew about."

"Not until just now," Monotoli said. "The Dalaamian army arrived to 'defend' the people of Ceres from my military."

"Well, I can't blame them," Venus said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Of course you can't blame them," Monotoli said. "That's the entire point!"

He received three blank stares.

"Do you think that the Dalaamians honestly want to protect the people of Ceres? Ana, you've been there. Do they give a single _psych_ about the well-being of outsiders?"

"Maybe a single psych," Ana said. "But not much more."

"So use your pretty little heads and guess what they're after, since they're _clearly_ not altruistic," Monotoli said.

"You think that they want to overthrow your government," Tracy said.

"And do you honestly think otherwise?" Monotoli asked. "Is it really my suspicion only?"

Tracy hesitated and shook her head.

"It makes sense," she said. "If I were in their place, I might try to secure a position of power amidst this chaos."

"Exactly," Monotoli said. "They're trying to establish themselves as the next rulers of Ceres."

"And why should we try to stop them?" Ana asked. "No offense, but I would take their rule over yours in a heartbeat."

"You can't just say no offence and then follow it with something super offensive," Monotoli said, rolling his eyes at Ana. "I get it. You hate me, and you probably should. But can't you see that if they take control, it will just cause _more_ chaos? Do you think that the Ceresian psions would take kindly to their new Dalaamian overlords?"

 _That's right,_ Ana thought. _The Ceresian government basically controls the psions of the universe, so the Dalaamians could use us however they like if they come into power._

 _Or at least, they could try their damndest._

"Even if you remove me from the situation, others would just pop up in my place," Monotoli said. "If we don't get rid of this Dalaamian army now, then we could have a full-scale civil war on our hands. A conflict unlike anything the universe has ever seen."

"Oh, psych," Venus said. "Just think about all of the psionics flying around. If Ceres turned on itself…"

"Not to mention that many Dalaamian sages possess psionic powers that they call 'Mu'," Ana said. "A civil war here could be worse than what happened to Scaraba."

"So do you see why I come to you now?" Monotoli said. "To be honest, I wouldn't be heartbroken if this planet went up in flames, but I figured I should at least give you a chance to help save it."

"I seem to recall that Ceres made a similar argument in Scaraba," Ana said, putting her hands on her hips. "That maintaining order would be the best in the long run. How did that go?"

"I'm not forcing you to do anything, Miss Aniah. If you distrust the validity of my words, leave and go on with your life."

Ana narrowed her eyes, examining Monotoli's expression. He said that he didn't care much about Ceres or what she did with her life, but Ana wondered what motives lay behind his exhausted face.

"Well, I'm in," Venus said. "A civil war or a new regime would throw everything off, and we _cannot_ have that right now when Giygas is gathering his strength."

Monotoli nodded as if he expected the answer. Ana kept her eyes pinned on him.

"What do you think, Ana?" Tracy asked.

 _Do I really want to get involved in this again?_ Ana said. _I'm not sure if I picked the right side last time, and the situation this time is nearly identical._

Ana sighed. Deep down in her heart, she knew the answer.

"You're right," Ana said. "We can't let a new army throw the entire planet of Ceres into chaos. Maybe if we defeat Giygas then I'll turn on you, but we cannot afford to divide ourselves further in the face of a greater enemy. I'll fight with your psyching army, Monotoli. Just don't expect me to kill any civilians."

"Of course," Monotoli said. "Do whatever you wish. It matters not to me."

"Then I guess I'm in too," Tracy said.

"Are you serious?" Ana asked. "You'll get eaten alive on the battlefield!"

Tracy crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

"Tracy," Ana said. "Please, listen to me. I know what war is like. These Dalaamians have psions just like we do, and they'll probably target you specifically since you're inexperienced but dangerous."

"It's true," Venus said. "They'll single you out and you'll probably be too panicked to save yourself. Ana and I can teleport ourselves out, but if you get separated and find yourself in danger…"

"Fine," Tracy said. "I'll stay back at school."

"Thank you," Ana said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I know that you're strong enough to fight, and I can't deny your usefulness after you figured out how to unlock the door for us. But it's really best for you to stay somewhere safe this time."

"Sure," Tracy said. "But you have to promise me that you'll take me along when we go searching for Lucas."

Ana gulped. How could she agree to _that?_

"Okay," Venus said. "Are both of you psyching insane? Because you should be doing everything you can to stay _away_ from a psionic savant."

"Please, Ana," Tracy said. "Revenge is all that I have left."

Ana's throat went dry. She knew that feeling all too well.

"All… All right," Ana said. "I promise."

"Idiot kids," Venus said. "I'll yank you both out of trouble if I have to. It would actually _irk_ me if you died so stupidly."

"I appreciate your overwhelming compassion," Ana said with a dry voice. "Now, I believe it is time to get involved in another meaningless war."

"It's funny," Venus said. "We try to preserve order. We try to keep our old systems because we don't want to deal with the chaotic process of changing things up. But in that process, we shake up a lot of people's lives anyway."

"We can't prevent the chaos," Ana said. "All that we can do is minimize it. Let's do our job, Venus."

"Job?" Venus snorted. "My job involves singing at people, not blowing them up. Let's do what we must in order to keep this planet alive."

* * *

Ninten cradled Kumatora's body in his arms.

 _Oh, psych,_ he thought, tears welling up in his eyes. _It's happening. I'm alone again, and I'm not nearly strong enough to face the universe around me._

Ninten was certain that Kumatora had overchanneled and that she required professional assistance. He just couldn't do a thing to get her what she needed.

Ghosts floated in the back of Ninten's mind, laughing softly at him. This had been the story of his life. American culture taught Ninten that he could do anything he wanted, so when he failed it was his fault and nobody else's.

When his grandfather stuffed Ninten into a bag and suffocated him, it was _his_ fault for not breaking out.

When his grandfather later forced him to learn psionics and threatened him with the bag for a second time, it was _his_ fault for not fighting back.

When he went downstairs bleary-eyed and exhausted the morning after waking up from nightmares every two hours, it was _his_ fault for not letting his mind relax.

When Dr. Andonuts slit his own throat right in front of Ninten, it was _his_ fault for not stopping it.

When Kumatora used every ounce of strength to save them both from chimeras, it was _his_ fault for not being able to take them on his own.

Ninten was a loser, plain and simple. If he said that he couldn't control what happened to him or blamed the actions of others, he would just be trying to avoid responsibility by making excuses. And if he didn't take responsibility for his own fate, he couldn't be a real man.

"See, Kumatora?" Ninten asked out loud. "This is what I have to deal with. Everything that I've ever learned has taught me that I'm a worthless human being. _That's_ why I'm always so hard on myself. Normally, I can just accept it and move on, but…"

Ninten drew a shaky breath, hugging Kumatora's body more tightly.

"I need you," Ninten said. "Not as a lover, but as a friend. I can't do this alone. Maybe you're right and that's all Paula ever was to me. Maybe I couldn't love her and I just needed _someone._ If that's true, I won't hide from it. I won't paint myself as a virtuous person. I'll be the selfish boy everyone expects me to be. Because I can't possibly face this universe alone."

Ninten thought that he saw the corners of Kumatora's mouth twitch upwards ever so slightly, but he probably imagined it.

"This is how Ana feels, isn't it?" Ninten said. "It makes sense. We're both Americans. We were both taught to take responsibility for everything that happened to us. And look where we are. Ana resorted to psyching _stabbing_ herself, and I'm not far off!" Ninten laughed out loud. The mirth in his own voice made him want to punch something. "Look, I know that I'm weak. I know that I'm pathetic. That's why I need you to help me, Kumatora. But I don't have the first idea how to help you first."

Ninten wiped away his tears and looked around. Eventually, he looked up to the purple dome in the sky and saw a single line running from the ground all the way up to pierce the dome. That space elevator, called the Gate to Prosperity, marked the center of the main city on Ceres.

Ninten only needed to walk towards the thin, vertical line in the sky to eventually reach civilization.

"This is the stuff I'm talking about," Ninten said, shaking his head. "I don't have an ounce of common sense in my body. Man, what it would be like to have a brain that isn't completely incompetent…"

Ninten bent down to hoist Kumatora's body over his shoulder

"Wait!" Ninten said out loud. "Maybe Ana's done with resisting Monotoli or whatever she was doing. I can call her on the portocom, show her the area, and get her to teleport over here. Kumatora could get a ride back to the school's hospital in seconds rather than hours."

"Do you often talk to yourself like this?" came a voice from behind Ninten.

"Whoa!" Ninten whirled around, spotting Darius. "Why are _you_ here?"

Upon further examining Darius, Ninten saw numerous signs of stress. A clenched jaw. Tensed muscles. An icy gaze. Thin lips. Whatever Darius was here for, he wouldn't enjoy it.

"Oh, psych," Darius said, his eyes widening as his gaze shifted towards Kumatora. "Is she….?"

"She's alive, yeah," Ninten said. "Would you mind teleporting us back to the school? She overchanneled and probably needs some medical attention."

Darius nodded, but Ninten caught a flash of guilt in his eyes.

"What?" Ninten said. "Do you feel bad about letting Kumatora knock herself out?"

"Y-Yeah," Darius said. "That's it."

He was a terrible liar.

"Okay, why are you _really_ here?" Ninten said. "Are we still on the same side?"

Darius licked his lips. Ninten guessed that it was a nervous habit. For someone who kept his cool while fighting a psionic savant, Darius seemed completely out of his element now.

"Do you know that I work for Giygas?" Darius said.

Ninten nodded. It wasn't a terrible gig, all things considered. While Ninten would never want to compromise with something like Giygas, he could see what made the option lucrative. Giygas was psyching _powerful._

"He gave me a direct order," Darius said, averting his gaze. "One that I cannot refuse."

"What did he tell you to do?" Ninten asked.

Darius revealed a sad smile. He paced back and forth for several moments before answering:

"I wish that I could resist. No, that's not right. I _could_ resist if I wanted to, but it's not worth enough to me."

"Just tell me what your psyching mission is," Ninten said.

"I…" Darius coughed. "Oh, psych, not a single part of my body wants to let this out. But I can't hide from it forever." Darius looked Ninten in the eye. "Because I released Kumatora, it is my job to kill her. Mind Thrust."

Ninten tried to shield Kumatora's body with his arms even though he knew that it wouldn't do any good.

"I hope that you believe me when I say that I'm sorry for this," Darius said, moving his hands to manifest another power as he bit back the pain scrawled on his face. "Not like it will really make a difference in the end."

* * *

 **Gate to Prosperity:** A space elevator that goes to a space station, which is the only way to get into our out of Ceres. It's in the center of Ceresian civilization, so Ninten just has to follow it to make it back to Urban Ceres.

 **Mary:** The Mary in this chapter is the "real" part of her, while most of her is a psionic savant working for Giygas. Still, she hasn't lost her spirit entirely, and is trying to stop herself from committing more massacres.


	31. Chapter 27: Reason to Fight

_For a people who claim to be unified, we divide ourselves quite spectacularly._

 _For a people who claim to use objective thinking and compassion to form logic, we resort to name-calling and bigotry far more than we could have anticipated._

* * *

"Stop!" Ninten shouted, staring Darius down with as much confidence as he could muster. "Don't you dare hurt her."

"Or what?" Darius asked. "Like I said, I don't _want_ to do this. But unless you can come up with a reason for why I should disobey a direct order from a being that sees me as an ant, I'll perform my duty."

Darius pulled a curved sword out of its sheath and pointed it at Kumatora.

"Don't play me for someone soft," Darius said. "I won't hesitate to kill her. If you even _look_ like you're trying to distract me, I'll end her life."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Ninten said. "Swear that a being more powerful than Giygas will protect you if you defect to our side? What will convince you to leave an innocent person alive?"

"She looks peaceful, for once," Darius said. "It will be a shame to kill her. My heart will lurch. But I'll psyching do it. I've murdered helpless children before, Ninten. This is nothing new to me."

"How far are you willing to go?" Ninten asked. "How many of your morals will you sacrifice to stay alive, Darius? At what point does life become a chore that you experience numb and alone?"

"I've already sacrificed more of my morals than you'll probably believe," Darius said. His dangerously soft voice combined with his venom-filled eyes sent a chill up Ninten's spine. "What do you think that you know, Ninten? Out on the streets, there are no winners. There are only survivors and losers. I would have died long ago if I always done what was right, and I wouldn't be able to help _anyone._ "

"But that doesn't make it okay to kill Kumatora now."

Darius hardened his glare.

"What gives you the right to decide, Ninten? While the nobles sitting in their posh estates carve out ethical codes, people are starving on the streets. I doubt you'd believe half of the nasty stories that I can share about living in the slums of Scaraba."

 _Didn't Ana say that Zanine was his mother?_ Ninten thought. _Why didn't she bother to raise him?_

"My father was part of one of the largest criminal gangs in America," Ninten said. "He told me dozens of stories about heads flying and eyeballs getting stabbed by the time that I was ten. I'm not a complete stranger to this, Darius."

Darius chuckled, shaking his head.

"I can see that you hate your father," Darius said, "Maybe almost as much as I hate mine. Perhaps you do have a point, but we'll probably be enemies from this point on so I doubt that it will matter. We've strayed too far from the subject at hand." Darius pointed his sword at Kumatora. "I need a reason not to kill her, Ninten. Make it snappy, as you foreigners say."

Ninten churned dozens of ideas in his head. There had to be _some_ way to convince Darius to set down his sword. After all, Darius himself admitted that he didn't want to harm Kumatora. Maybe Ninten could find a way to tap into that hesitation.

"You're running out of time, Ninten," Darius said.

Ninten gritted his teeth, kicking himself mentally for not thinking of ideas more quickly. He came up with several reasons why killing Kumatora would be a bad idea, but he doubted that Darius would find any of them compelling enough to disobey Giygas. Ninten took a deep breath.

He pictured himself backed into a corner. Nothing new, nothing that he couldn't handle now. Ninten let himself smile.

"You look pleased with yourself," Darius said. "Did you find a good enough reason for me not to kill Kumatora?"

"Sure I did," Ninten said, creating a sword out of translucent ectoplasm. "It's probably the reason you're expecting. I won't give you the chance."

Ninten lunged at Darius.

* * *

Ana Aniah stood on the top of a massive building made of clear crystal. The wind battered her face, sending her psion's robes flowing backwards. From here, she could see almost the entire city. Regular-sized buildings appeared as mere dots from her position on the building.

The world looked so _different_ from up here. Ana could almost imagine her fears and anxieties fading away just like the buildings below. While they could appear massive from some perspectives, they looked insignificant when viewed from the right place. Ana hadn't realized how much she missed the relief of letting her worries blow away on the wind.

Yet the purple dome in the sky above reminded Ana that she was still trapped, constrained. When Ana imagined that she could float into the sky and soar with the stars, the dome reminded her that she was bound for Ceres.

But could that be a good thing? Ana didn't want to stop caring about the universe. She didn't want to lock herself away and think only about what was near or immediate. She appreciated the stress and worry so long as they didn't consume her. Maybe this was a good compromise.

"Hey, kid," Venus said, walking up next to Ana. The wind blew Venus' robes back just like Ana's, and the image served to make the pop singer appear more graceful and beautiful. Ana felt her heart leap.

 _Ah, stop it,_ Ana thought. _Even if her body weren't fake, she's got to be twice your age._

"Hello, Venus," Ana said.

"You looked deep in thought."

"I suppose that I did."

"Do you want to explain what you were thinking about?" Venus said.

"Not really."

Venus snorted and looked off the edge of the building.

"Whatever," Venus said. "I'm sure that it was something that a stupid singer like me couldn't understand."

"That's not it," Ana said, squinting to make out objects in the distance. "Are those sky runners?"

"Yeah," Venus said. "They're dropping Jeff's bottle rockets on the Dalaamians. Dr. Andonuts designed those sky runners, you know. Father and son together gave Ceres a tool that might change the face of warfare itself."

"Doesn't really seem fair," Ana said. "The Dalaamians are just marching along and suddenly bombs drop from the sky? What are they supposed to do?"

"Life isn't fair," Venus said with a shrug. "They're supposed to roll over and die. That's what Ceres expects of them."

 _That's what Ceres expects from everyone,_ Ana thought.

But Ana knew that she couldn't just let this world fall to ashes. Even if the Ceresian government was despicable, it provided structure and order. Better to have sinister laws than no laws at all.

"Is that what we're supposed to do?" Ana asked. "Sling PK attacks at the Dalaamians from afar while they scream and bleed?"

"It's an option," Venus said. "How do you want to play this battle?"

"You're asking me?" Ana said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I know what I want to do, so I'm wondering if we should split up," Venus said.

"I want to fight against the Dalaamian psions," Ana said. "The so called 'Mu masters.' If we can take them out, the Dalaamians will probably retreat and we'll save a lot of bloodshed. After that, we can turn our attention towards Giygas."

Venus nodded, although her lips tightened ever so slightly.

"That was my thought as well," the pop singer said. "But are you sure that you want to throw yourself into danger so quickly? You don't always have to take the most perilous route."

Ana released a sigh. She wanted to imagine herself as brave, but she forced herself to be honest.

"Danger doesn't scare me," Ana said. "I don't have much left to lose. I lost my parents in Dalaam, my boyfriend in Scaraba, and my livelihood long ago. Life holds little meaning, so why should I fear death?"

"You still have Tracy," Venus said. "And your stupid revenge plans against Lucas."

"They keep me going," Ana said, peering over the edge of the building, "But they can't do much more than that." Ana closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I suppose that you are right. I should try my hardest to stay alive. At least I have _something._ "

Ana's initial peace from viewing the world as a speck had turned into numbness.

 _My entire mind's a mess,_ Ana thought. _I guess that's one thing that I can work on fixing if we ever beat Gigyas._

Because really, wasn't that the ultimate goal? While Ana struggled her way through social situations and wars in Vulcan, Dalaam, Scaraba, and now Ceres, she caught glimpses of Gigyas pulling strings from behind the scenes.

The former president Minerva Carpaitner's fear of Gigyas pushed her to wipe out life on Aphrodite and turn Lucas into a brutal killer who feels no remorse.

Giygas' interference on Vulcan pushed Ceres into a disastrous war.

Giygas ordered his starmen to attack Dalaam, where Ana's parents and thousands of others lost their lives.

Giygas unleashed Mary and the starmen onto Scaraba, wiping the entire city of Fiven off the map.

Ana didn't doubt that Giygas would attack Ceres before long.

"This is all to stop Giygas," Ana said, mostly to herself. "He's the ultimate enemy. All of this pain and suffering is just a prelude to what we will face when his starmen enter the field."

Venus looked over at Ana and offered a sad smile.

"It's true," she said. "We make preliminary moves to maintain order and keep our system from collapsing, but even if we succeed it may not matter. Once Gigyas comes for Ceres, we will fight for humanity itself. I think that his actions in Scaraba made it clear that he's the one to hate. I wish that we could just come together rather than dividing ourselves further."

 _All of this killing,_ Ana thought. _This massacre. It exists so that we might glean a slight advantage when Giygas lands on Ceres. That's how desperate we are._

"Might Giygas attack somewhere else before Ceres?" Ana asked. "Earth seems like the easier option to conquer."

"He might go after Earth first," Venus said, "But he'll still attack us sooner or later. Ceres is too powerful to ignore."

"So either way, we have to prepare."

"Yes."

"And _this_ is preparing," Ana said.

Venus hesitated.

"Yes."

"All right," Ana said. "Let's go and kill some Dalaamian psions. I can't promise that I'll give it my all, but I'll do what my body allows me to."

"Your body and your mind," Venus said, tapping on her head. "Don't forget that your mental health is just as important as your physical health."

 _Well, that went down the drain a long time ago,_ Ana thought, but she nodded along.

"I'm going to get us a closer view before we commit to any skirmishes," Venus said. "Teleport."

* * *

Sky runners flew over the line of Dalaamian soldiers, dropping bottle rockets as they passed. Jeff gritted his teeth whenever he saw one of his creations being used to hurt innocent people.

"Now!" Poo shouted.

The students gasped in awe as the missiles deflected from their original path and exploded in front of or behind the Dalaamian army. Jeff spotted a number of older soldiers moving their hands and muttering incantations under their breath.

 _Clever,_ Jeff thought. _Masquerading their psions as regular soldiers._

"Let's pull those flying machines down!" Poo shouted.

The Dalaamian psions fired bolts of white-hot energy at the sky runners. The ships hit by the beams caught fire and crashed into nearby buildings. Poo nodded in satisfaction.

"Good work," Poo said. "We must remain vigilant for the next wave."

Another group of sky runners approached, matched by the Ceresian army approaching on the ground. Jeff spotted some Ceresians wearing psion's robes and shouted a warning.

The moment after, dozens of explosions sounded all across the Dalaamian army. Horses and soldiers cried out as they fell, and Jeff couldn't bear to look at all of the blood and blown off limbs.

 _Even though I hate my bottle rockets,_ Jeff thought, _Regular psions still pack a bigger punch. They've oppressed non-psionics-users for millennia, and I doubt that will change soon._

"Fire back!" Poo shouted. "Ground soldiers, retreat!"

The majority of the Dalaamian cavalry galloped away while the Mu masters fired off explosions and more rays of energy. Some focused on the sky runners overhead while others targeted the Ceresian army. Poo let out a growl and called drops of energy from the sky that exploded on several sky runners, sending them spiraling to their deaths.

"Let's get out of here," Jeff said, and he ducked into a nearby street with the rest of the students. "Psych. I bet Claus is out there."

From the other street, Jeff could still see some of the psionics slung back and forth between the Dalaamians and the Ceresians. Balls of gooey ectoplasm flew across the streets, along with more deadly attacks such as laser beams and bolts of fire. Jeff couldn't see the entire battle clearly, but he imagined the fight as something from a science fiction movie. The bright colors that radiated from the other street didn't seem like they should belong in real-life battle.

Jeff heard more explosions and saw more sky runners crash. He raised his gun and pointed it through the alley that he used to get to the other street in case any Ceresians tried to follow him. The other students followed suit, some of them hesitantly. Out of the corner of his eye, Jeff saw several guns shaking in the students' hands. Psych, Jeff didn't know how _he_ managed to keep himself composed.

Eventually, the sounds of battle died down. Jeff motioned for the students to follow him and ducked back into the alley, emerging on the street where the battle took place.

Jeff knew that battlefields weren't pretty, but he hadn't expected the destruction that he saw. Buildings lay toppled over, blocking several paths out. The sheer number of explosions had dented the ground itself, leading to miniature craters that pooled up with blood at the bottom. Hundreds of Dalaamian and Ceresian soldiers lay dead on the ground, many of them missing limbs. The explosions had treated some bodies so harshly that Jeff couldn't tell what they had looked like in life.

Jeff walked over to Claus, who wiped his bloody sword on a Ceresian soldier's white uniform.

"It's probably good that you didn't see most of it," Claus said. "So much raw psionics flying around. Trying to detect all of it gave me a psyching headache."

Jeff nodded, his throat numb. He looked between masses of bodies, wondering what each one of those people would have accomplished in the rest of their lives.

"And this is only the beginning," Claus said. "The battle rages on. And even if we win, we still have to face Giygas."

"Indeed," Poo said, walking over to Jeff and Claus. "Hopefully the Ceresians will give up soon so that we can focus on the real enemy."

 _But isn't Darius working for Giygas?_ Jeff thought. _It could be better to compromise with the aliens rather than trying to wipe them out._

"What happened to your horse?" Claus asked.

"He didn't make it." Poo shrugged. "I shall mourn later."

"Sorry for running away, your majesty," one of the students in Jeff's group said, shuffling her feet. "I wanted to help, but…"

"But you probably would have gotten caught in the crossfire," Poo said, walking over and putting a hand on the student's shoulder. "And you all can just call me by my name. We're all students at that school, after all."

"Maybe not for much longer," Jeff said. "I'm guessing that Dean Fork will expel us."

"I wouldn't count on it," Claus said. "After this battle ends, who knows how much power the Ceresian government will have left? We could end up being heroes."

"Indeed," Poo said. "We should try to focus on helping the universe now and worry about the consequences later. Given how messy this whole battle is, I'm not sure that anyone can predict the outcome. Not even a mystic like Ninten." Poo offered a smile. "I should try to reorganize this division of my army. But before I do…"

"What?" Claus asked. "Does it have to do with our role?"

"In a way," Poo said. "You fellow students are free to join us, leave us, whatever. I was going to say that Kim wants to meet with Jeff personally."

Jeff blinked, searching for a glint of humor in Poo's face. He found none.

"Me?" Jeff said. "Why me?"

"He didn't say." Poo shrugged. "He just wanted me to teleport you over to him if I found you. Obviously, I won't force you into anything, and I told him as much."

"Thanks for the thought," Jeff said, "But if Kim wants to meet with me than I should probably go along with it. He did lead the protests quite well, so he probably knows what he's doing."

"Are you working with Kim?" one of the students asked Poo. "Did he have this army behind his back the entire time?"

"More or less," Poo said. "He figured that Ceres might take things too far and requested my help." He looked back towards where Dalaamian soldiers were chatting and watching guard. "I should really get back to organizing my division. You may come with us if you wish. Jeff, do you wish for me to teleport you over to Kim?"

"Yes," Jeff said. "I'm ready to face whatever he has to say."

Poo smiled.

"So determined. That gaze of yours could inspire an entire army, you know."

 _I think that it already did, as silly as that sounds,_ Jeff thought.

"Claus," Jeff said, "Do you want to come with me?"

"Nah." Claus waved his hand in dismissal. "That kind of stuff's not for me. I'll stick to hitting things with Poo here. Kim shouldn't be dangerous, right?"

"He's on our side," Jeff said. "I doubt that he'll try to hurt me."

"I can attest to his good character," Poo said. "And I sincerely hope that we get the chance to meet again, Jeff. Let's both try to survive through the day, all right?"

"It's a deal," Jeff said, smiling at the new Dalaamian King.

"Teleport," Poo said.

As the world faded around him, Jeff waved Poo, Claus, and the other students goodbye.

* * *

Ninten knew that if he let his Darius adjust his bearings, it would spell the end of Kumatora's life. But maybe if he could keep Darius' hands from manifesting powers then he could give her a chance.

Ninten's initial lunge landed on point and Ninten's sword ripped through Darius' wrist. Of course, Darius could take far more punishment and walk out without a scratch due do his psionic aura. Ninten didn't know how long he could keep Darius at bay. It was hard enough to beat another psion in a fight; he didn't even _think_ about the luck and skill required to keep Darius from ending Kumatora's life with psionics and warping away.

Because Ninten had the chance to save Kumatora's life. The odds didn't matter; he could _do_ this.

Darius grunted and pulled a scimitar out of its sheath with his other hand, slashing at Ninten with the same motion. Ninten leaned back to avoid the blow and darted in for another strike. He couldn't afford to release a bit of the pressure that he exerted on Darius.

"I admire your conviction," Darius said, slashing at Ninten for a second time. "I think that we could have been friends, under different circumstances."

"We can still be friends now," Ninten said.

"I'm sorry," Darius said, continuing his offensive, "But that opportunity has come and passed. I can't control the side of the conflict that Gigyas puts me on, Ninten. I wouldn't want you to fight for my side, but I cannot leave myself."

Ninten saw the conflict written on Darius' face while the youth gave off the aura of weary acceptance. This wasn't a new problem for him, by the looks of it.

"Still," Darius said. "This is a nice excuse. I'll deal with you before I kill Kumatora. Who knows? You might even beat me."

 _And that scenario is more likely than you think,_ Ninten said, thrusting his sword at Darius.

The two traded blows for some time, their battle aided by psionics. Ninten threw balls of gooey ectoplasm to slow his opponent while Darius laced his sword with acidic venom and wove in explosions between attacks. Both of them healed enough to keep themselves healthy. Ninten smiled at Darius. The victor would likely be the one to force the other out of his psionic energy.

"Why did you grow up on the streets, anyway?" Ninten said. "Why didn't Zanine raise you?"

Darius grunted, parrying one of Ninten's slashes. His eyes narrowed and he lashed out with his sword, slicing Ninten's leg and sending droplets of acid all over his body.

"I'm serious," Ninten said. "This isn't just a distraction. I'm honestly curious about your past. I know that you're a good person, Darius. To retain any semblance of self after what you experienced is remarkable."

Darius faltered, missing the opportunity to press his advantage. He glared at Ninten.

"I care," Ninten said. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"We're enemies," Darius said. "Your pity only holds you back, Ninten Lorune."

"So we're addressing each other by full names now, Darius Kim?" Ninten said. "I doubt that you're any more proud of your heritage than I am."

"Stop talking!" Darius lunged at Ninten. "This is a battle, not one of your people's therapy sessions. If you cannot grasp the magnitude of this struggle…"

"Oh, I can tell what this means for both of us," Ninten said. "I choose to talk anyway."

"A diversion, then. I shall waste no more of my breath."

Darius slashed and hacked at Ninten, spraying venom and adding more to his sword. Ninten felt the poison start to eat into his skin and wondered how much longer he would last. He used healing psionics to cleanse his body and resumed the battle."

"Didn't I tell you?" Ninten said. "I mean everything that I say. I'm not above lying or deceiving, but I wouldn't fake something like this."

"Just shut up." Darius rammed his shoulder into Ninten's chest, sending Ninten stumbling backwards. "Fire blossoms!"

Fire flowed out from Darius' hand. More blossoms of fire passed over Ninten, singeing him and leaving him coughing from the smoke.

"See?" Ninten said. "There's beauty even in the ugliest tasks. You fight with the quick lunges of a viper and the grace of a gentle stream. Think of what you could do if you followed your moral compass."

Darius' next strokes flowed with the grace that Ninten described. It didn't do anything to hide his anger.

"Most people make stupid mistakes when they're angry," Ninten said, "But I've always been told that I fight better when I'm enraged. Maybe you're the same way."

"Shut your mouth or I turn on Kumatora with my psionics," Darius said. "I still hold that option, you know. Fighting you is a nice excuse, but I won't hesitate to deliver a few more mind thrusts and end her life. This is about her, isn't it?"

"This is about all of us," Ninten said, "But if you truly wish…"

Ninten took a deep breath and advanced forward, poking at Darius' defenses. He focused with all of his effort and began to adapt to Darius' style. His skills and grace normally distracted Ninten, but once he got down to it he could start to pick out patterns in Darius' style. He would tense his muscles slightly less than usual before preparing for a feint. He would step backwards in the same way when attempting a parry.

It didn't take long for Ninten to use that knowledge to his advantage.

He focused his attention on Darius' posture. Whenever he saw that Darius was going for a feint, he lunged in and stabbed Darius wherever he left himself open. He would occasionally throw in feints himself, whipping his sword away right before Darius parried and slicing at Darius' legs.

Eventually, Ninten started to gain ground. Darius spent more and more of his energy on healing while Ninten kept his pool of psionic energy relatively full. Darius' movements started to slow while Ninten kept his body on overdrive.

"You…" Darius said, his eyes widening. "Where did you learn how to fight like that?"

"Learning is only half the battle," Ninten said. "Okay, well maybe like three quarters. I care about this victory more than you, Darius. My body's willing to put in the extra ounce of effort to give me the slight edge."

"That's it?" Darius said. "No cheap tricks? No hidden secrets? Just motivation?"

"I thought that you said not to talk," Ninten teased, holding his sword up but not attacking.

"Is that why Jeff managed to hold onto the Sword of Kings while the rest of us failed?" Darius said. "Is that why Diana managed to keep Mary at bay for so long? Did they just want to protect Scaraba more than I did?" Darius shook his head. "I don't know if I can accept that."

Darius and Ninten stood pointing their swords at each other; neither of them made moves to attack.

"Motivation's a part," Ninten said. "I haven't really felt this alive in years. I guess I just needed to find something that I cared about."

Darius lowered his sword.

"I… see," he said.

"Fight for what you care about," Ninten said. "I know that it sounds silly. I know that it sounds simple. I know that it sounds like I don't understand what you've suffered through. But trust me, it makes a universe of a difference."

Darius cracked a slight smile.

"I understand," Darius said. "And I thank you for this lesson. But…"

"But what?" Ninten said.

Darius lowered his gaze to meet Ninten. His smile turned sad.

"But I am sorry," Darius said.

Darius lunged at Ninten with renewed vigor. While earlier Ninten's focus allowed him to dissect Darius' patters and react accordingly, Ninten found Darius catching all of his habits before he even recognized them. He raised his arm in a certain way to parry that made it difficult to swing his sword back on the offensive. When panicked, he abandoned defense and went for a reckless stab. Darius' eyes blazed with pain as he punished Ninten's habits and forced him back with a round of attacks.

"I don't want to kill Kumatora, obviously," Darius said. "But I can care about this fight. I will become strong enough to sway Giygas. Then nobody else will have to know this pain."

Ninten tried to come up with a response but couldn't focus on forming words with all of his attention directed towards not letting Darius pick up on every bad habit that he had accumulated over the years. After what felt like little more than a moment, Darius leapt to the side to avoid one of Ninten's panic stabs and charged forward. Ninten couldn't reel his sword back to protect himself before Darius swung for Ninten's legs, tripping him and sending him sprawling on the ground.

Ninten attempted to pull himself back to his feet, but Darius pinned him to the ground before he got far. Ninten tried not to flail in panic; even a psion was helpless while pinned down. He couldn't rely on his powers to get him out of this situation.

"You asked me why my mother never raised me," Darius said. "I reminded her too much of my father. I'm sure you've heard stories about General Kim from your friends. After all, he did murder your girlfriend Paula."

Ninten grunted. He tried but mostly failed to direct the anger rising in his chest at something other than Darius.

"It was painful for her to even _look_ at me," Darius said. "I'll never forgive her for leaving me on the streets, but from her perspective I don't think she felt able to even take care of herself."

 _That's true,_ Ninten thought. _At least she had an excuse for neglecting her child, unlike my parents. At least they didn't leave me out on the streets, though._

"My father spread so much pain," Darius said. "More than I'll probably ever know. Every one of the people that he killed had a real life ahead of them. To understand the loss, I would have needed to know every one of the thousands of people he killed on a deep level. That's why I had to get rid of him, you know? If I can't even understand all the suffering that he caused, the least I can do is to make sure that he doesn't do any more harm."

"Good for you?" Ninten said. "It's hard for me to congratulate you while you're pinning me down to the ground."

"Giygas is the same," Darius said. "Even though I work for him, I do not turn a blind eye to his destruction. I bite back my anger with a smile and see if he gives any openings for me to strike." Ninten heard Darius taking a deep breath. "But to stand up to him, I need to become stronger. I need to gain more of his trust. So I'll psyching kill her, Ninten. Even though it pains me, I _want_ to take a step forward."

Darius shifted his body to pin Ninten with his knees so that his hands would become free to manifest psionics.

"No, please!" Ninten said. "There are other ways…"

"Mind thrust," Darius said.

Ninten struggled to free himself as he sensed Darius' psionics. If he didn't act now, then Kumatora would never wake up again. She sacrificed her consciousness to keep him safe; he needed to repay her back by keeping her safe.

"Mind thrust," Darius said, more quietly this time.

"Please…" Ninten said.

 _Powerless._

Ninten squeezed his eyes shut.

 _Nothing changed since the day my grandfather stuffed me into that bag and suffocated me. I can only watch as my fate unfolds in front of me._

Ninten felt a wave of calm wash over him, like he stood in the eye of the storm. He somehow knew that he would dissolve back into a panic before long.

 _I guess this is my body's last ditch attempt at getting me to break out of my self-pity._

Ninten took a deep breath.

 _Even if I fail and I'm still the same miserable runt as before, it doesn't hurt to try._

Ninten screamed and put all of his force towards breaking free from Darius' grip. He drove his head into Darius' stomach, and the surprise factor bought him a moment's reprieve. He pulled with all of his might and wrenched his arms out from under Darius' knees. He scooted backwards on the ground and slammed a knee into Darius' groin.

"I never said that I was done." Ninten scrambled to his feet. "If you want to kill someone under my watch, you're going to need to do better than that."

Darius leapt backwards, preparing his hands to manifest another power.

"Oh no you don't!" Ninten shouted, running forward.

A starman colored deep purple with spikes on its head and arms appeared between Ninten and Darius. The sight was so strange that Ninten halted his charge.

Silence fell on the outskirts of the chimera labs. The starman held up tentacles towards Ninten and Darius, as if to motion them to stand back.

"I believe I may have a compromise," the starman said in an oddly human-like voice.

Darius lowered his hands and Ninten tried to analyze the starman for any signs of what it would do next.

"Well, let's hear it," Ninten said, lowering his sword an inch at a time.

* * *

 **Once again, Ana and Jeff are on different sides of the conflict, and Ninten is off doing his own thing. Some things stay the same... at least for now. :) Having the protags fight on opposite sides was one of the decisions that I appreciated, because even if my execution wasn't perfect it feels more interesting to me when people on both sides have something to fight for.**

 **Mystic:** Seers who get visions of the future (like an old-fashioned idea of a psychic). These people are also known to develop schizophrenia later in life.

 **Zanine:** Darius' mother. A Scaraban woman who led the revolution against Eagleish colonialism and was ultimately vaporized along with the rest of the Scaraban city by Mary after fighting Ana.

 **Review Response: Guest:** Thank you! :) Yeah Ninten's having a rough time... and so is everyone really. Ninten in particular plays a very key role later in the story so I hope you enjoy what's coming! Thank you so much for your support


	32. Chapter 28: Enemies

_Our hatred blinded us. Even Lorraine forgot what binds us all together:_

 _Love._

* * *

Jeff Andonuts appeared on top of a building that stood in the center of metropolitan Ceres, towering over the other buildings. He looked around him and saw a few other buildings that rose to his height, most of them colored with shining crystals. The breeze whipped by his face, nearly blowing his glasses off.

At the edge of the building stood a man standing still, almost like a statue. Only his billowed-back hair and flapping clothes gave Jeff confirmation that he was an actual person. Jeff walked up, holding onto his glasses. He stopped a couple steps away from the edge, figuring that the fall would probably kill him despite his enchanted armor.

"Hello?" Jeff said. He nearly had to shout to hear himself over the wind.

"You are Jeffrey Andonuts, yes?" the man asked. He spoke with a light Dalaamian accent. "I wanted to thank you. I am Kim Jang-Li, the head of this concerned protestors of Ceres." He turned around to face Jeff with a calm smile. "Which you have probably guessed."

Despite Kim's soft voice, Jeff heard him perfectly well over the rippling wind. He took a moment to wonder how that worked and found no answers.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Jeff said.

"I did."

Kim still hadn't turned around to face Jeff. The Dalaamian exhaled and dozens of screens appeared around him and Jeff. Looking around, Jeff spotted transparent screens in every direction, forming a dome around the two humans.

"Tell me," Kim said. "What do you see in these screens?"

Jeff studied each one for a moment. They displayed views of certain parts of Ceres, usually from overhead. Jeff saw lasers flying around and explosions of all colors while the streets ran red with blood. Buildings lay in disarray; many of them collapsed and blocked the road. Some screens showed nothing but a sea of corpses. Jeff shivered, imagining the eerie silence that would come from being at the scene itself. None of the screens gave off sound, which allowed Jeff to focus on the visuals more accurately.

"Destruction," Jeff said. "Desolation."

"Is that all?" Kim asked. "Can so many deaths really be boiled down to two words?"

"I… don't think so?"

"You are uncertain."

Jeff opened his mouth to respond.

"You've said what you see in the screens that I display. Destruction. Desolation. Those are fine words. What do they mean to you?"

Jeff took another look at the numerous scenes displayed around him. Blood, wild eyes, and sickening explosions filled the screen.

Jeff just wanted it to stop.

"They make me hate the universe," Jeff said. "I see why someone would prefer Giygas' rule. At least he kills people for a _reason._ "

"He does," Kim said. "He does indeed."

Jeff waited for Kim to continue and eventually realized that the Dalaamian wasn't going to speak further about the matter.

"You don't have a reaction to what I said?" Jeff said. "My pessimism doesn't disturb you?"

"Different people need different treatments," Kim said, "And I don't think that it would help you if I critiqued your assessment. You have the tools to consider the situation on your own, and I trust you to come up with the answers." Kim tilted his head. "Does the guilt weigh on you?"

"From partially causing this with my bottle rockets?" Jeff said. "Of course. How could I say no to that?"

"Even though you are not the one ending lives? By all reasoning, you are innocent. Placing a weapon in one's hand does not amount to murder."

"Even still," Jeff said, "Yes."

"Then we are the same." Kim offered a sad smile. "I put ideas into my brother's head. I wanted him to become a happier person. I guess I succeeded in that." Kim sighed. "I believed that we could do anything if we tried hard enough. I trusted in our abilities to break through any barrier, whether it be made of paper or stone. I looked down upon those who failed, just like my brother did."

"What changed?" Jeff asked.

"Do you have any guesses?"

"You learned from his mistakes." Jeff didn't word it as a question.

"Indeed," Kim said. "My brother See-Yoon became enamored with the idea that determination makes us unstoppable. We never considered why humans were given the ability to hesitate."

"And that's what led to the slaughter of thousands," Jeff said.

"Probably millions. Dalaam is a big place." Kim paced back and forth. "That brings me to my current situation. Our stubbornness continues to divide us."

"How so?" Jeff asked.

"Vulcan is falling further and further into a mess," Kim said. "The Revivalist movement stemmed from a discontent with active foreign policy. The remnants of the empirists want to put your friend Ninten on the throne. The Ceresians look down upon the outside universe for its lack of supposed sophistication. And now people come worshipping Giygas."

Jeff shivered, and not from the gust of wind that nearly blew his glasses off for the twentieth time.

"I know," Jeff said. "It's sad. I want to tell people just to get along, but…"

"But they always have excuses," Kim said. "The Vulcanese are to blame for their situation. Non-Dalaamians seek to destroy our culture. Outsiders come in and fill the roles of Ceresians. The new youth is a bunch of spoiled brats deviating too far from tradition."

"We haven't gotten better at reducing prejudice and bigotry," Jeff said. "We've just gotten better at coming up with excuses."

"I agree." Kim sighed. "Those are good things to consider."

"So what are you doing here?" Jeff said. "What's your goal?"

"I wanted to show people how far we still have to go," Kim said. "I wished to display how subtle hatred can lead to real consequences when left unchecked."

"You _knew_ that this would turn into a war?" Jeff said. "And you went through with it anyway, just to prove a _point?_ "

"I did not start anything," Kim said. "I gave the silenced citizens of Ceres a voice. I gave the youth and the poor a way to protest. I gave the Dalaamians a chance to fight against the force that oppressed us for millennia. I did not push anyone. I did not orchestrate anything." Kim sighed. "But I did predict this."

"Why?" Jeff said. "People are dying out there, and you knew that it would happen! Why didn't you do something to stop it?"

"What do you want me to do?" Kim asked, his normally calm voice turning desperate. "Would you wish for me to beat the poor and voiceless back down so that the Ceresian nobles can live in their little boxes of peace again?"

"No, but…"

"Then what do you want for me to do, Jeff? What would you do in my situation?"

A shiver ran down Jeff's spine.

"I feel the guilt from this, too," Kim said. "I could have never started this if I wanted to. But I couldn't just stand by and let this cycle of pain continue. If the people weren't to rise up, it should be their decision and not mine."

"Fine," Jeff said. "Let's just assume that you're right for the sake of time. After a brutal battle that divides common and noble Ceres and adds Dalaam into the mix, what do you hope to accomplish? With so many people dead, what can you really gain from it?"

"I hope to remind the universe who the real enemy is," Kim said. "I need to alert everyone to Giygas and his starmen. But even if I am wrong in my assessment of Giygas' evil nature, the people have the choice to ignore me and keep fighting each other. I shall broadcast my words, but I will not force them to listen. The universe must decide if it wants to fight itself or Gigyas."

"And how do you plan to turn us against the aliens?" Jeff asked. "It will be difficult for people to see today's enemy as tomorrow's friend."

"I understand Giygas," Kim said. "I spent quite a bit of time studying him in the Shard of Ceres."

Jeff's eyes widened.

"Yes," Kim said. "I visited the pillar of truth and returned to tell the tale. I hear that you went there as well."

"I did," Jeff said. "Much of the technology that I released to the world came from the Shard."

"I suppose we should talk about that later," Kim said. "One of the key facts that I learned about Giygas is that he strikes when his opponent is on their knees. He won't ignore a conflict like this one."

Jeff took another look at the corpses on some of the screens and saw lines of bodies with only small burn holes through their chests. At first, Jeff assumed that psions killed those people, but there were far too many for psions to account for.

A large number of people fried by precise lasers shots…

There was only one explanation.

"The starmen are already here, aren't they?" Jeff said. "They're picking off people from both sides."

"That's right," Kim said. "Even I didn't expect that they would go after the non-psions. But ever since what happened in Dalaam…" Kim shook his head. "Well, it's safe to say that we're going to be in for a long ride."

* * *

Ana Aniah appeared on top of another building alongside Venus. This time, she could see the conflict raging below. Lasers in a variety of colors flew back and forth while explosions sounded and shouts rang out. Sky runners flew overhead, dropping bottle rockets below. However, most of the sky runners fled after lasers from the ground brought a few down.

"I've never seen so much psionics in one place," Ana said.

"I've never _felt_ so much psionics in one place," Venus said, rubbing her temples. "My psionic senses aren't used to detecting this much power. It's like looking straight into the sun. Ah, I think that I'm going to get a headache."

Ana's psionic senses lingered in the back of her mind, alerting her to the psionic explosions, lasers, and other silent manifestations.

"Psych," Venus said, shaking her head. "I'll have to fight through the pain, literally. It should be pretty easy to tell who the Dalaamians are, right?"

Ana looked at the battlefield below. She spotted more Dalaamian sages than robed Ceresian psions.

"I don't know about this," Ana said. "Monotoli made it sound like these rebels had no chance of winning and would only cause more destruction, but isn't it possible that _we_ should be the ones to surrender?"

"Yeah, I don't know if Geldegarde predicted this," Venus said. "You should make up your mind quickly."

Ana wanted to turn back, but years of forcing her desires to the back of her mind taught her to pay little heed to such impulses. She looked into Venus' eyes and nodded.

"It's too late to turn back now, isn't it?" Ana said.

"People who think like that end up throwing their lives away," Venus said. "What do you want to do, Ana?"

"What I want doesn't matter."

Venus and Ana stared at each other for several seconds. Ana refused to back down in the face of Venus' stern gaze. Nobody would boss her around any longer, psych it!

A laser grazed past Venus, soaring off into the sky beyond her. The pop star's lips curved into a sneer.

"We are going to have a talk later," Venus said, "But we need to move now. You're in?"

Ana nodded.

"Let's head down to ground level," Venus said, grabbing onto Ana's arm. "Teleport."

The world faded around Ana, and streets and buildings surrounded Ana as reality reappeared. A rush of adrenaline prompted Ana to take a look around, looking for signs of movement. Her eyes grazed over the numerous corpses on the ground. They could wait.

She saw people clothed in the robes of Ceresian psions firing lasers and manifesting other psionics that she didn't bother to determine at a group of Dalaamian sages. The Earth natives advanced with a steady rhythm, their expressions grim and their eyes sad. They fired lasers back at the Ceresians while warping around and setting off explosions, which toppled buildings and ripped up streets. Ana stood frozen for a moment, unable to involve herself in the battle.

"You don't seem so sure about this," Venus said.

Ana growled, coming back to reality. She began manifesting a fireball, but halted as she detected a familiar psionic aura. She turned to the side as Claus ran into the streets alongside the Ceresian psions. The ginger wore a neutral expression but widened his eyes upon spotting Ana.

"What are you doing here?" Claus shouted.

"I could ask the same thing to you," Ana said.

"Stop focusing on your friend," Venus said. "This is an active battle, not a social gathering."

Ana gulped and turned back to face the Dalaamians. The next second, a Ceresian psion cried out in pain without Ana detecting any lasers or explosions near her. She whipped her head to the side to spot Claus stabbing the psion, his face laced with pain as he forced his sword further in.

"Claus!" Ana shouted. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, psych," Venus said, firing a laser at Claus. "He's the one who helped the Scaraban psion back in Fiven."

The rest of the psions turned on Claus, throwing ectoplasm to stick him to the ground while lighting up the area with fire and chilling it with ice. Claus shook his head, cracking a sad smile. Even in what could be his last moments, Claus felt no fear or remorse.

The next moment, a dozen Dalaamian sages teleported in to assist Claus, led by Poo. Ana gasped upon spotting the former prince; Poo held himself in a way that commanded respect while the Dalaamian sages circled around and engaged individual psions.

"Okay, that's enough," Venus said, taking off into a dash.

Venus darted towards Claus, firing lasers and throwing boulders with her psychokinesis. Claus freed himself from the sticky ectoplasm and charged towards Venus.

Poo's and Ana's eyes met. Both of them hesitated.

 _"Are you with them?"_ Poo asked telepathically.

As the explosions, clashing of steel, and cries of pain continued, Poo's question rang in Ana's head.

 _"I guess I am,"_ Ana transmitted, summoning a sword. _"That makes us enemies, doesn't it?"_

Poo took a stride forward as the ground exploded behind him. Ana envied the graceful way that he could dodge attacks without dropping his concentration on other tasks. His eyes remained pinned on Ana.

 _"We don't have to be,"_ Poo transmitted. _"You could leave."_

For a moment, Ana glanced over at Venus flinging boulders as Claus sliced her with his greatsword. She couldn't leave such a large conflict behind, not when she had already picked a side.

 _"I'm sorry,"_ Ana transmitted. _"I wish I could."_

 _"Then I suppose we shall be no different than other friends torn apart by war."_ Poo closed his eyes for a second, ducking out of the way as an arrow passed through the air that his head occupied just a moment earlier. _"This is why we need to end the conflict."_

 _"It doesn't look like you're trying to do that."_

Poo's gaze hardened.

 _"We protect the peaceful protestors from Geldegarde Monotoli. When he set his army upon them, we tried to keep the deaths to a minimum. Why do you come to us with swords and bombs rather than words, Ana?"_

Ana gritted her teeth. Psych it, she didn't know enough about this conflict. What if Poo was right? Would she be able to discern a bluff? Ana realized that her view of the war and conflict was painfully limited. Maybe Monotoli turned her against the Dalaamians as another ploy. But he seemed so sincere this time…

Ana heard an explosion right next to her and felt a dull sensation of pain as rocks slammed into her head and side. Because the attack took her by surprise, Ana couldn't get her psionic aura up in time to prevent all of the damage. Her head spun as she stumbled forward, falling to the ground. The taste of loose stones in her mouth nearly made her gag. Her arms and legs shook as she forced herself back to her feet.

A boulder slammed into Ana's back. She gasped and fell unconscious.

* * *

"A compromise?" Darius said. "I do not know if you understand our situation, starman."

The spiked starman held up a tentacle to Darius and another towards Ninten. Ninten pictured it as a parent trying to separate fighting children.

"I grasp your situation better than you think, Darius," the purple starman said. "Even though it irks you to believe that anyone understands your pain, I know what you're going through."

Darius growled.

"Listen," the starman said. "Would Giygas send one of his minions over here for nothing? You can trust me."

"And what about me?" Ninten asked. "What assurance do I have that you won't try to capture me? I hate to sound paranoid, but it wouldn't be the first time that your brethren attempted to whisk me away."

 _But seriously,_ Ninten thought. _What is up with that starman? I haven't seen any of them with spikes before, and the dark purple color just looks creepy._

"Ah, I understand your paranoia quite well," the starman said. "It is the mark of someone who has been hurt too many times. Do not worry, Your Majesty. We starmen are too simple and straightforward to devise such a plot. If I wanted to capture you, I would have tried the moment I saw you."

The starman spoke with a sense of dry humor that made Ninten even warier. Since when did any starman grasp the intricacies of human mannerisms?

"I suppose that I should let you state your actual compromise," Darius said. "But make it quick. We don't have all day."

Well, if Darius didn't find anything odd with the starmen then maybe Ninten should reserve his judgment.

"Thank you, good sirs," the starman said with a mock bow. "Giygas wishes for Kumatora to become a nonfactor in this battle. Her Osohe body makes her too powerful, both in terms of physique and psionics. However, he doesn't necessarily need her dead."

"He told me to kill her," Darius said, raising an eyebrow. "Not take her out. Not eliminate her. Kill her. It didn't leave a lot of room for interpretation."

 _Please keep talking,_ Ninten thought, looking at Darius' curved sword. _I don't know how much patience Darius possesses, and Kumatora's life is on the line here._

"That was to gain your loyalty," the starman said. "But now that Giygas knows how devoted you are, he shall not force you to murder Kumatora."

"I do not know if I trust this," Darius said, raising his sword. "Are you even a starman? You act more like a human wearing metal skin."

"That is a closer assessment than you probably realize," the starman said. "But yes, I am a starman. I used to go by Starman DX, but now I'm a ghost." The starman cocked its head. "I suppose that makes me the Ghost of Starman DX, doesn't it?"

Ninten didn't really care what it made him. He took another look at Kumatora's unconscious body. Her mouth lay open as if she had been cut off in the middle of a scream. Ninten wondered how much life she had left in her after Darius assaulted her mind with his psionics.

"Do you have proof of who you are?" Darius said, raising an eyebrow.

"Listen, kid," the starman said. "Do you really think that I would impersonate a starman just to get you to spare a single girl? Give me a little credit here. It's not like I'm sending you into an obvious death trap."

"Still not convinced," Darius said, flicking his sword back and forth.

"Listen," the starman said. "I'll just teleport here away somewhere nice and safe. She won't wake up for a while without intervention, but Ninten here will be glad that she can still live the rest of her life."

"What if I don't agree?" Darius asked.

"I'll go through with it anyway," the starman said. "Really, I don't have to talk with you at all. I'm just a nice person who likes to avoid confrontation."

"I don't trust this either," Ninten said. "What's in this for you? Why would you interfere?"

"Because Giygas told me to," the starman said as if it were obvious. "That's how we starmen work, you know. Ever heard of a hivemind?"

"I know that you starmen act like worker bees," Darius said, "Which is why I do not trust an independent starman like you."

"And that mistrust leads to situations like this." The starman gestured to the field of burned grass around them.

"Those who trust do not last long," Darius said.

"And those who do not trust live to repeat the vicious cycle," the starman said. "That's why I thought that it was okay to manipulate and murder you humans at will. But I learned that you humans have the capacity to become great. Even those who spent their entire lives slaughtering innocents can change."

"That's why Ness was special," Ninten said. "He never descended to the evil that he saw around him. I think Paula shared a little of that, too. Maybe that's why I fell in love with her."

Darius' face softened when Ninten mentioned Ness. Darius sighed and lowered his sword.

"Ness should have changed to match his circumstances," Darius said. "If he had, then he might be alive right now. I appreciate your idealism, but I can still recognize its impracticality. One person cannot change the universe through their virtue, Ninten."

 _That's what I thought, too. But now I'm not so sure._

"So can you trust me?" the starman asked.

"I can use this as an excuse for why I didn't kill her," Darius said. "I suppose that Ness would have wanted me to protect her, no matter how stupid that prospect became. Even though I refuse to let his death rule me…" Darius shook his head, "I can't help but see his pleading face with those beady eyes in my mind. This once, I'll let her go."

"Thank you," Ninten said.

"I'm not doing this for you."

"Thanks anyway." Ninten shrugged. "Ness would be proud."

Darius snorted.

"Save your praise and don't use your dead friend as justification for a compliment. It's bad enough that my memories of him refuse to leave me alone."

"I know how you feel," the starman said. "Memories from a lifetime ago keep popping up in my mind." He walked up to Kumatora and stroked her face. "Dimension door."

A portal to infinite emptiness opened up right next to Kumatora. Another portal leading to the inside of a wooden house appeared within the emptiness of the first portal. The starman lifted up Kumatora's body with psychokinesis and threw her into the portal. She soared through the emptiness and appeared inside the house on the other side.

With Kumatora gone, the starman closed off the portal and turned back to face Ninten and Darius.

"Who are you?" Darius asked the starman. "Don't pretend like there's nothing odd about you."

The starman chuckled. If Ninten had just heard the noise, he wouldn't have known that a starman made it.

"My name," the starman said. "Is Mr. Carpainter. I started a cult that brainwashed many and led to the deaths of more. To me, you humans were the machines, controlled by your DNA. But I don't know what to believe anymore."

A chill ran down Ninten's spine. The person who raised Diana Carpainter and killed Ness' father was a _starman?_

"I guess you warned us all along," Ninten said, keeping his voice neutral. "Starmen can transform and disguise themselves as humans."

 _But still,_ Ninten thought. _What does Kumatora matter to him?_

"So that's how you gained knowledge of human habits," Darius said. "You masqueraded as one."

The Starman DX nodded, but Ninten still didn't believe that was the whole story.

"So I guess it's time for the awkward goodbye," Darius said to Ninten. "I would say that I'm sorry I tried to kill you, but…"

"It's okay," Ninten said. "We both knew what we were getting into."

"I still don't trust you," Darius said. "But I've already learned to respect you. I guess I'll head back to the city, then."

"Mind if I come with you?" Ninten asked. "I think that we eradicated most of the chimeras, and I just lost my method of transportation."

Darius looked confused for a moment before his eyes lit up.

"Ah, Kumatora teleported you around." He bit the side of his lip. "I suppose you can tag along. Are you sure that it won't be awkward? I mean, we _did_ just try to kill each other."

"Awkward? Yes. Awkward enough to make me want to walk? No."

Darius smiled. Maybe there was something left in him other than anger after all.

"I guess it's settled, then," Darius said. "Unless you want to deal with Starman DX over here. Didn't he just admit that he led a cult that murdered several people?"

Ninten looked back at Mr. Carpainter. The starman couldn't have shown an expression if it tried.

"I apologize if you wish to take revenge," Starman DX said. "But I am just as busy as you. Dimension door."

The purple starman hopped into a portal and vanished.

"Well, that answers my question," Darius said. He regarded Ninten with a wary glance. "I said that I didn't trust you, but I don't think that you'll kill me now. Does that count?"

"I'll take it," Ninten said, flashing a smile. "Now let's head back to downtown Ceres."

"All right." Darius' gaze hardened. "But trust me, it won't be pretty."

* * *

 **"Your Majesty":** Starman DX says this to Ninten, striking a wound with how the empirist group worked with the starmen and Gigyas to try and reinstate the Ceresian empire with Ninten as emperor.

 **"Even those who spent their entire lives slaughtering innocents can change:** This is mostly a reference to Diana, who was brainwashed by Mr. Carpainter's cult but broke free at the age of 40 and dedicated her life to helping the universe. This willfulness from Diana changed Mr. Carpainter's perspective.


	33. Chapter 29: Ghosts of the Past

_Lorraine belongs to a race of entities called the Ancients. She is not truly an Osohe like we are._

 _You may recognize the name of another one of these Ancients._

 _He goes by Giygas._

* * *

"Can you sense the storm coming?" Kim Jang-Li asked, looking out at the rest of Ceres below. "Can you feel the tension in the air?"

"What I detect is of my own creation," Jeff said. "But yes, I get the feeling that Giygas is about to strike."

Jeff looked around at the screens floating in the air surrounding Kim. His eyes leapt from once scene of destruction to another. Rubble in the streets. Arms and legs torn off bodies. Soldiers stumbling forward, their hands sticky with blood.

Jeff wondered if he would ever be able to look into the eye of war without his stomach heaving.

"You keep those screens up with psionics?" Jeff asked.

"Indeed. I assume that you have heard of clairvoyance psionics?"

"So many…" Jeff said, his eyes wandering from screen to screen. "There must be hundreds. How can you keep them all active at once?"

Kim shrugged.

"I suppose that I am gifted at scrying. It saved me from becoming a person that I would now despise."

Jeff frowned.

"It's so easy to ignore the outside world," Kim said. "I spent my entire childhood growing up in a region under Dalaam's rule called Korea. The Dalaamian colonials treated us poorly, to the point that we became much like Scaraba in our hatred."

"So when your brother invaded Dalaam and murdered civilians without remorse…"

"Right. Dalaam told us that we didn't matter, so we couldn't force ourselves to care about them. But it led my brother to become blind to the rest of the world. While he looked at what lay outside the bounds of his homeland, he never really _saw_ it. He let himself become trapped in his own mind, and he left his mind back in Korea."

"So what does any of that have to do with you and clairvoyance?" Jeff asked.

"There was a time when I wasn't so different from the man that my brother became," Kim said. "I organized plots to kill Dalaamian officials that oppressed us. Some of them beat us and mocked us, but most of them were just the result of the system that sought to beat us down. Still, I wanted to kill them all. In fact, I did kill some."

"And then what?" Jeff asked.

"I saw Dalaamian while scrying," Kim said. "I saw the way that they wept. I saw the way that they comforted each other when we killed them. After that, clairvoyance became a drug. I had to see how people acted in different situations. When I didn't let myself look away, I finally started to approach the truth."

"I get what you mean," Jeff said. "Someone close to me lived in a cult, and it took her years to really see the truth even after looking at the destruction she caused for her whole life."

General Kim nodded. Jeff waited for a response until realizing that none would come.

"So why did you call for me in the first place?" Jeff asked. "I see what's going down on Ceres through your screens, but I can't tell what I'm supposed to gain from it."

"You're not supposed to gain anything, specifically," Kim said. "We each learn different lessons from similar experiences. But I did have an actual reason for calling you down besides making you listen to my confusing philosophy. You have visited the Shard of Ceres before, yes?"

Jeff didn't respond. The screens blazed around Jeff and Kim, flashing with explosions and blood. Jeff cringed while Kim's expression didn't change.

"This is the power of knowledge, Jeff," Kim said. "But sometimes, it feels difficult to connect with people who don't have the chance to see the world in the same way."

"So is this some sort of burden of knowledge bullshit?" Jeff said. "No offense."

"None taken. I don't see it as being a burden of knowing too much, but more having others know too little. I wish everyone had the clairvoyance powers to see the truths I have." Kum paced back and forth. "Have you ever wondered why the Shard works? Can something that takes in all of the knowledge from human and Osohe civilization just… exist naturally?"

"I don't know," Jeff said. "It could."

"But you were trained as a sceptic, right?"

"Science and technology is about questioning, if that's what you mean. Otherwise we can't move forward."

"Good." Kim glanced over in the direction of the Shard, a speck of glittering purple in the distance. "That's not how I see the world, but my intuition hasn't helped me unlock the secrets of the Shard. Maybe your questions will."

"So you think I'll have a better chance of analyzing the Shard because I'm so different than you?" Jeff said.

"You don't have to sound so surprised," Kim said. "Backup plans certainly aren't anything new."

"You're desperate," Jeff said. "You can't possibly think that me going to the Shard will accomplish anything, but in the small chance that it can…"

"Then you may find technology powerful enough to combat Giygas," Kim said.

"I unleashed the power of technology already," Jeff said, gesturing towards the screens around him. "And _this_ is what happened. I gave a regular person access the basic tools of a psion."

"Perhaps it was for the better," Kim said. "I guess only time will tell."

"For the better?" Jeff said. "Do you _see_ this?"

"Psions have always found ways to destroy and slaughter," Kim said. "I'm not convinced that your bottle rockets did anything but free more psions up to fight each other. But I do see your point, Jeff, and I can empathize with not wanting to unleash another monstrosity upon this universe. Whether or not you want to use any knowledge that you find is up to you."

"I won't create a superweapon just to destroy Giygas," Jeff said. "Minerva Carpainter tried to blow him up with atomic bombs, remember? It ended up killing most Aphroditians and sent the planet itself into a nuclear winter that likely wiped out the rest."

"Perhaps you will not find a superweapon," Kim said, "But something else. Remember, Giygas and his starmen think quite differently than we do. While we humans die from sharp bits of metal and fiery explosions, I would guess that Giygas' weaknesses lie in another realm altogether."

"If he even has any weaknesses," Jeff said. "Ah, psych. I sound like such a pessimist."

"You are the kind of person who needs to cycle through all possibilities," Kim said. "That is not a weakness. So ask yourself, what happens if Giygas is invincible? What happens if his victory is inevitable?"

"Then nothing that we do matters," Jeff said, gritting his teeth. "Which means that there's no point in planning for that possibility anyway."

Jeff's portocom started buzzing in his pocket. He took out the mirror-like object and instead of displaying a caller identification, Jeff saw shaky, black letters scrawled on the screen of the portocom.

Jeff had seen this before. Twice.

The message this time was shorter than before. It read:

 _I would love to see you again._

 _-LOVE_

Jeff frowned. He had never met LOVE before, had he? The mysterious entity contacted him twice, once to tell him to avoid the chimera labs and another time to tell him to visit the Shard of Ceres. Neither time had Jeff encountered the entity itself.

 _Was it Voice, perhaps?_ Jeff wondered, thinking of the ghost back in the Shard of Ceres.

But no, that didn't make any sense. Voice acted mysterious as a joke, but Jeff could tell that the ghost would make his messages more direct if they really mattered. Besides, if it were Voice, wouldn't the message be signed under his name rather than LOVE?

Jeff cocked his head to the side. Why would the person sign in all capital letters? Jeff knew that in some cultures, people wrote their last names in all uppercase. Perhaps this LOVE came from one of those cultures?

Or maybe it was something else entirely. Now that Jeff thought about it, "LOVE" didn't sound like a cool codename. While Jeff could see many names of mundane objects for an alter ego, he didn't see why anyone would call themselves LOVE. Especially when the person seemed so… distant.

What greater meaning could a word like LOVE possibly have?

Unless...

"Not going to answer?" Kim asked, raising an eyebrow.

 _Should I tell him?_ Jeff wondered. _I don't know how much I can trust someone I just met…_

"Have you ever heard of anyone called LOVE before?" Jeff asked.

Kim shook his head.

"Did they just call your portocom?" Kim asked.

"More or less," Jeff said.

 _I can't help but think that this LOVE lives back in the Shard,_ Jeff thought. _The mysterious vibes, the implication that it met this entity once before… everything fits together like a puzzle._

It didn't constitute scientific proof, but given that Jeff already had a reason to explore the Shard again…

"I'll go to the Shard," Jeff said. "Since I've already been there before, I should have a leg up in unlocking its secrets."

"That was why I chose you," Kim said. "Nobody else has previous experience with the Shard while possessing such a scientific mind. I suspect that this will be your greatest challenge yet, but I believe in your ability to unlock the secrets behind the mystical structure that stumped academics for millennia."

Jeff smiled at Kim. Something about the Dalaamian's calm posture made Jeff think of him as a sage. Kim wore a smile and stood up straight to indicate attentiveness and give off a gentle aura, but he didn't express the fiery hot joy that Jeff normally associated with happiness.

"You're similar to your brother in some scary ways," Jeff said. "You both think that we're all capable of great feats if we put our mind to it. You both claim to accept others for who they are. So why did General Kim use that reasoning as an excuse to murder while you use it as a reason to help?"

"Because I recognize that what works for me doesn't work for everyone," Kim said. "My brother found that he could hold back entire legions if he cared enough, so he assumed that everyone else had that same power locked within them. Thus, it became _their_ fault when they failed and died to his soldiers."

Jeff nodded. He heard many of those words come straight from General Kim's mouth when he watched what was happening back in Dalaam.

"But I see things differently," Kim said. "When I fail, it's usually because I'm not doing something right. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough or maybe I'm not approaching the problem in an intelligent way. But when someone else fails… I can't see inside of their mind, so I don't pretend to know the reasons why. I am different from my brother because I don't judge people based on what they can't accomplish."

Jeff remembered days back in Winters when he threw fits about minor incidents. Maybe he couldn't fix the device that he was working on. Maybe he was just having a rough day. His friends and teachers always spoke to him with suggestions veiled behind words of encouragement. They always managed to convey that if he had just done this, if he had just tried that, then maybe Jeff wouldn't be in this situation right now.

While they weren't acting out of malice, it drove Jeff crazy.

"We judge so often, don't we?" Jeff asked. "We all think that we know how the world works. When someone messes up, we think that we have the solution. Even when we understand that other people think differently than we do, we still project our own values onto them. Maybe that's why there's so much conflict in this universe."

Even something as simple as a patronizing teacher trying to explain the answer to Jeff like he wasn't smart enough to connect the dots set him off. So in a political situation where the stakes were higher and tensions increased, of course people would start wars over meaningless squabbles.

Even now, the Dalaamians and Ceresians fought, and for what? Jeff doubted that most people truly knew why.

"Would you mind teleporting me to the Shard?" Jeff asked. "I'm ready to go now."

"I can warp you as far as the entrance," Kim said. "The Shard disables psionics inside, which includes teleporting in. It's even stricter than those Sanctuaries that we have back on Earth."

"That's fine," Jeff said.

He took one last look at the fire and blood on the screens. Every second while he and Kim talked, real people just like him and his friends were dying. Maybe if Jeff could unlock the secret to the Shard's power, he could find a way to end all of this.

"When you get to the center of the Shard with the stained glass pillar, please look back over to where I am," Kim said. "I have something that I'd like you to see, and it will probably happen sooner than I would like."

"Uh… okay?"

"I'm sorry that I can't tell you any more," Kim said. "But if I told you the truth, then you probably wouldn't let me stay here. Teleport."

"What, wha-"

The world faded around Jeff.

* * *

Jeff appeared at the base of the crystalline stairway that lead to the entrance of the purple building large enough that even when Jeff craned his neck he couldn't see the top.

"What did he mean?" Jeff asked out loud. "That I won't let him stay there if I knew what was going to happen. Is he… in danger?"

Jeff frowned. Most powerful psions didn't fear death, and for good reason. A psion's aura protected them from normally lethal damage, and even if they did suffer a mortal blow they could delay the damage and teleport out of danger before healing themselves with psionics. Most psions were only vulnerable when surprised or drained of psychic energy. Jeff doubted that he would let either one occur.

"I guess there's nothing I can do about it," Jeff said. He looked towards the entrance to the Shard. "Might as well get to the center quickly so that I can see what's happening to him."

Jeff climbed up the stairs, his legs burning from the exertion. For the first fifty or so stairs his legs nagged him; after that they screamed for him to stop. Jeff let a grin come to his face. When stressed or annoyed, he sometimes wanted to break objects. At least if he hurt himself then nobody else would suffer for the knowledge of what his bottle rockets had done that weighed on Jeff like a sack of bricks.

Eventually, Jeff reached the top, beads of sweat rolling down his face. He wiped his forehead and then his glasses, staring into the open entrance. Even visiting this place once before couldn't quell the butterflies in his stomach. Jeff took a deep breath and walked in.

Just as before, Jeff spotted the distinct furnishings of the shard. Spiked vines made out of the same purple crystal as the rest of the structure snaked around the rooms, their points sharper than spearheads. Jeff spotted maps and words written in a different language carved into the crystal, radiating a dim light as Jeff passed. The entire building was made of transparent crystal, but after a time Jeff couldn't see the Ceresian sun.

 _So I wasn't just insane the last time I visited,_ Jeff thought. _This place really does give off mystical vibes._

Just as before, the rooms got more abstract as Jeff worked his way through the maze. Some twisted on themselves, spiraling up and down in chaotic fashions. Crystal vines curled around empty air, the spikes glistening with what Jeff convinced himself was some red liquid _other_ than blood. Maps turned into pictures that Jeff couldn't comprehend and then devolved into a mess of scribbles as Jeff worked his way even further in.

He tried not to imagine that this was the universe's way of unraveling.

As Jeff worked his way through the maze, he could sometimes recall dimly which way led to the pit that would send him to the center of the Shard. Sometimes, the cues in his head were so distant that Jeff was tempted to attribute them to instinct.

Jeff had come here to unpack the Shard's secrets on a scientific level; this mysticism _had_ to exist simply to hide the underlying mechanics of this building. How could anything, especially something that wasn't alive, archive the entire human history on its own?

Paula would probably attribute it to the existence of god. Ness would probably shrug and run off when someone came asking him for help. Ana would probably politely explain that a cost-benefit analysis didn't support her stumbling around in a mystical building with no idea what she was doing.

Jeff was different from all of them. None of his friends could hope to accomplish what he set out to do.

Jeff let a smile come to his face. Ever since arriving at Ceres, Jeff had lived in the shadow of his friends. He wanted to be as smart as Ninten, as strong and determined as Ana, and as kind and thoughtful as Ness. He wanted Claus' unyielding posture and Paula's concern. He wanted Tony's hearty laugh and Poo's serenity.

He still didn't have any of those. But now he recognized that he didn't _need_ any of it. Jeff, more than any of his friends, was determined to seek out the truth. While most of Ceres schemed and cloaked their intentions, Jeff wanted to strip the planet of its secrets.

Surrounded by agents of chaos, Jeff was a shining beacon of order.

He put a spring in his step until he arrived at the black pit that brought back memories of a flame-lit path and familiar faces beckoning him to join in their oblivion.

Jeff looked up at the ceiling. It displayed a different message from when Jeff had first visited the Shard, reading:

WELCOME BACK, JEFF. I HOPE TO MEET YOU IN PERSON THIS TIME.

Jeff crossed his arms over his chest. The message itself did little to encourage him, but the fact that the Shard could change its own carvings intrigued Jeff. He made a mental note of it as a subtle reminder that anything could be changed inside of the Shard. Most of it remained the same, but Jeff suspected that with the right signals inputted, the Shard could do basically anything that the user wanted.

He needed to find that power to defeat Giygas. He just hoped that it wouldn't release another superweapon into the outside universe.

But what if it did? Would Jeff save the universe now only to watch it tear itself apart in the future? He honestly didn't know the answer.

Jeff looked back at the pit. He knew from experience how this would go. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped into the pit.

He never really got the sensation that he was _falling,_ really. He was just… descending. He supposed that it had to do with a lack of constant acceleration that gravity normally provided. After a few moments, he landed on empty ground. He took a few steps forward on the blackness to ensure that he wouldn't tumble off into infinity.

A circle of flames lit around Jeff, just like the last time.

Unlike the last time, Jeff could see faces of dead soldiers in the flames. Their mouths lay open, as if cut off in the middle of a scream. While the flames rage around them, the faces themselves never changed.

 _Does the Shard think that this will deter me?_ Jeff thought. _This is why I investigate. I need to save more people from this fate._

A path of flames led outwards from the circle. Jeff knew the drill and walked along between the two lines of flames on the ground, watching as they extinguished behind him whenever he took a step.

 _At this point, the Shard pits me against people I either love or hate to tempt me off the path. As per the cliché, people who wander off the path are never seen again._

Jeff smirked. He had seen his father die on a screen inside the Shard itself, so the first person to appear would probably be…

Minerva Carpainter materialized outside the path of flames.

"Hello, Jeff," Minerva said, looking at him with an inquisitive smile. "How are you doing on this day? Not well, I'd imagine. If I had an actual body, I would cry at all of the destruction taking place on my beautiful Ceres."

 _"If I still had an actual body…"_ Jeff's eyes narrowed.

"You know that you're not real," he said.

"Careful," Minerva said, holding up a finger. "I am not a physical being, despite what you see in front of you." She gestured towards herself; it sure looked real enough. "I am a spirit. Dead person. You know how we draw on a spirit from another dimension to manifest psionics? Yeah, that part of us remains after we die. So here I am."

"Why are you here?" Jeff said. "The Shard only sends people to taunt me and lure me off the path."

"Is that what your mother tried to do the last time that you came?" Minerva asked.

Jeff looked at Minerva with wide eyes. How had she possibly known…?

"Ah, I see that I have your attention," Minerva said. "Yes, I've been quite busy after death. It's quite frowned on, you know. I bet Voice can tell you more about spirit culture than I. But where was I? Ah yes, you and your quest. I assume the Shard knows how we barely even met in life, so it wouldn't send me to lure you away."

"Unless it wanted to catch me off guard," Jeff said. "I was ready to watch my father's insanity, to watch your sister Diana beg for me to love her as a guardian. But I'm so intrigued that you might rope me in."

"Ah, you think that I am designed to get the better of your inquisitive mind?" Minerva said. "Well, that's a danger you'll have to work out on your own. I can appreciate your thirst for knowledge. I was always the academic part myself. I should have stuck to books instead of trying to rule a planet."

"You didn't do _that_ poorly," Jeff said.

"I blew up a psyching planet, Jeff," Minerva said. "I broke your friend Ana. If neither of those qualify you to hate me, I don't know what does. But my role in this universe is almost done. You and your friends will have to take the reins where I left off."

"But we're just children," Jeff said.

"Right. You won't be ruling any planets, and you sure as psych won't know everything about being an adult. But you'll command the power to keep the rulers in check. Ana and Poo already understand power and politics better than people who had held government positions for decades."

"Them, maybe," Jeff said. "But I'm not a psion. I don't participate in the struggles of the elite. This investigation is what I live for."

"Perhaps," Minerva said, "But don't be afraid to go out there and try something new. But I shouldn't waste too much time. You _are_ investigating this place, and I hope that you found more answers than I did. I snuck someone else in under the radar; you should meet with him before the Shard notices."

"Not going to try to lure me off the path?" Jeff asked, walking forward alongside Minerva.

"Nope." Minerva grinned. "Looks like this might have been more real than you thought. Or maybe it's an even bigger mind game. I guess you'll have to be the judge of that. Just remember that we're all rooting for you. Even when you're alone, our hearts are never far. Since space as we know it doesn't really exist in the psionic realm, it's a scientific fact that our thoughts remain close wherever we are."

Minerva's body and clothes started to pale.

"Thanks for meeting me here," Jeff said. "I don't know why, but this made me feel better. Even though we've never met before."

"Heh," Minerva said, her voice growing faint. "We scientists need to stick together. Should have… gotten to know you… in life…"

Minerva dissolved away, leaving only the empty black of the Shard's trial. Jeff picked up his pace as he walked forward. While his stomach still churned, he wanted to meet the person that Minerva talked about sneaking in. Psych it, Jeff hoped that this wasn't an elaborate trap. To raise his hopes like this just to crust them in the second part… Jeff wouldn't put it past the Shard of Ceres.

He kept walking for what felt like hours. After a while, he started to wonder if Minerva had broken the Shard. What would happen if the path between the flames never ended? Would Jeff be doomed to walk for an eternity?

He only had to ponder that possibility for a moment before Ness appeared outside of the flames. He wore his standard cap, shorts, shirt, and most notably his shy smile.

"Jeff!" Ness said. "I'm so happy that I get one last chance to talk to you like this. I don't have much time, so we need to keep it brief." Ness blushed. "I'm not a quarter of the psion that Minerva is, so I can't stay long without alerting the Shard."

"Ness…" Jeff took a step forward, the flames licking his shoe. "Is it really you?"

"Would you believe me if I said yes?" Ness took a deep breath. "I'm not sure if it even matters at this point. You've come so far, Jeff. I had no regrets when I died trying to convince Lucas to put down his sword, but I do wish that I could still be alive to see where you go."

 _Careful,_ Jeff told himself. _This could be a trap._

"Did you really have to leave us?" Jeff said. "We all adored you. You kept us together. When you left us, you took part of our hearts with you."

"I'm sorry," Ness said. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that."

"No, don't apologize!" Jeff buried his face in his hands. "Psych, you're so nice. Why couldn't the world protect and cherish you instead of letting you die? We could have used 80 more years of Ness."

Jeff looked back at Ness to see the Onett boy smiling. Jeff felt his heart leap as Ness started to fade away just like Minerva did.

"My heart…" Ness said. "Will always… be with… y…o…u…"

Ness vanished, tiny particles of light dispersing as the darkness swallowed Jeff's friend. A door appeared in front of Jeff, a door that he knew led to the center of the Shard.

"Goodbye, Ness," Jeff said, finding his voice hoarse. "I promise to treasure your heart. Always."

 _It's a wonder that we can feel emotions this profound,_ Jeff thought. _If neurotransmitters can do this to me, think of all the power that can be harnessed from tiny molecules._

Jeff swallowed, picked himself up the floor, and opened the door.

He stepped into the center of the Shard of Ceres.

* * *

Jeff looked at the room around him. It looked quite similar to the part of the Shard before the trial; Jeff recognized the purple crystals that made up the walls, floor, and ceiling from his earlier visit.

Unlike the rest of the rooms, however, a pillar made of what looked like stained glass stood in the middle.

Jeff walked up to the pillar, watching as light danced from within. That light combined with an exterior source of light that Jeff couldn't identify flew through the different colored crystals and created an abstract light show on the walls of the room. Reds and blues danced around on the ceiling between bouts of stillness.

"As if this place wasn't weird enough before," Jeff said to himself. "Hey, pillar thingy. Would you please show me what's happening with Kim Jang-Li?"

As silly as his question sounded, Jeff knew that the pillar would respond. The Shard held the key to all knowledge held by humans and Osohe alike. Displaying Kim's situation wouldn't even cause the Shard to heat up.

Regardless of thermodynamics, a screen appeared on the floor, displaying the Ceresian sky. Jeff hurried over and stared at the screen, looking for signs of Kim. He didn't need to search far.

The protest leader Kim Jang-Li stood bleeding, unarmed, and surrounded by five psions in Ceresian robes.

* * *

 **Shard of Ceres:** A mysterious place that supposedly possesses all knowledge of human and Osohe history

 **Minerva Carpainter:** Daughter of Mr. Carpainter and former President of Ceres. One of the most powerful psions in the realm before she was poisoned and killed by Morgan Lorune.

 **Shard's trial:** Those who enter the Shard of Ceres are instructed not to walk off the path of flames while people they know try to lure them away. Jeff's experiences here are a bit different.


	34. Chapter 30: Martyr

_Many ancients just like Giygas and Lorraine existed during our time. These ancients commanded power far beyond what you or I can probably comprehend. Some of us believed that they are the foundations of the universe itself._

 _We killed most of them._

* * *

"I guess I should have believed you when you told me that this wouldn't be pretty," Ninten said, gazing at the sea of corpses around him.

Darius gagged, reeling over and taking deep breaths.

"Psych," Darius said. "Haven't seen this much gore in a long time. The stench is getting to me." He looked up at Ninten but averted his gaze after a moment.

 _Does he feel guilty for trying to kill me?_ Ninten wondered. _Psych if I know what's going on inside of his mind._

Ninten heard explosions and shouts in the distance. He looked up from the corpses and saw a toppled building blocking their path forward. What would it feel like to be inside of one of those buildings as it fell? Ninten closed his eyes and imagined looking out the window and seeing the ground coming closer… closer…

Ninten's eyes shot open. Perhaps it wasn't healthy to consider the despair and misery for so long, but Ninten fought better when he knew just exactly what was at stake. Thousands of people all across Ceres minding their own business had suffered… that. And that didn't account for the soldiers who died trying to forge a better universe. And all of the Scarabans who vaporized along with Fiven.

The world wasn't pretty, and Ninten's eyes focused on the ugly parts longer than most people would. That trait of his would probably lead him to despair and give up some day.

But that day would not be today.

"Look at these corpses," Darius said. "Most of them aren't armed or armored. Civilians. Peaceful protestors. Whatever you want to call them." Darius shook his head, wearing a disgusted sneer. "And maybe some Ceresians on the other side. Psych, why are we still here if so many others died?"

"I know," Ninten said. "I always felt like the good people die off first. That's probably why I'm still standing." Ninten let out a sigh. "How do you see yourself, Darius? Are you a good person?"

Darius paused for a moment, and then cocked his head.

"I'm trying to be a good person," Darius said, calculating each word before speaking. "I don't know that I'm succeeding."

"And then there's Ness," Ninten said. "We found him in a field of corpses just like this, remember? Any one of these people could have been another Ness."

"I wish that Ness hadn't gone off on his own," Darius said. "I wish that I hadn't _let_ him go off on his own. Psych, I've already spent too many hours thinking about this."

"He made his choices," Ninten said, "And I don't think that he regretted them. Let's head towards the conflict, shall we?"

Ninten walked into a side street, trying to find the quickest way around the collapsed building. Darius dragged behind, his muscles tensed like a cheetah ready to spring into action. Ninten took multiple glances at Darius' sword and walked further ahead upon spotting the tight grip that Darius held on his blade.

"Maybe Ness didn't regret his choices," Darius said, long after Ninten assumed that he dropped the conversation, "But because of his actions, he can't help anyone ever again. He threw his life away for nothing."

"He can still help others, even after death," Ninten said. "We can learn from his actions. If more people were like him, then none of this would have happened."

Darius snorted and rubbed his temples with his off-hand.

"I didn't think that you were one of _those_ people," Darius said. "Dead is dead, Ninten. And news flash: people _are_ terrible and ruthless. Wishing that more people acted like Ness won't change anything. The only lesson you can learn from someone else's death is how not to die the same way."

"I'm not so sure," Ninten said. "I can see why you think that way, and I'm sure that some people place too much value on last wishes or dying words. But sacrifices in general can prove a point, and death is the greatest sacrifice of all."

"Try using that logic out on the streets," Darius said. "Nobody will care if you die. Nobody will care if I die. In the end, we need to keep ourselves alive if we want to keep helping people. Sacrifice can only inspire so much before hard steel needs to be used."

 _Boras…_ Ninten thought. _What would you say to Darius right now if you were alive? You let me kill you just to prove a point. You showed me that we kill out of fear. In the same way that my mother squashes a spider so that it can't bite her, Ceres tries to beat its population into submission so that the people cannot rise up again._

 _That's not the kind of universe I want to live in._

"Look, Darius said, jogging ahead of Ninten and emerging into another main street. "More corpses."

Ninten quickened his pace and stepped out of the alley. He looked around at the bodies, seeing all of them basically intact. Some of them were sliced in two, but Ninten saw no signs of explosives used. Without the corpses, the scene actually looked rather tranquil. Buildings stood upright without signs of damage; many of them advertised goods or boasted a stall outside. Ninten could see toys and games lined up inside of the stores behind unbroken windows.

A chill ran down Ninten's spine. What kind of battle _didn't_ result in some property damage? While cries and explosions continued to sound in the distance, nothing in the near vicinity made a noise. Ninten turned to look at Darius, who stared back with an uncertain gaze.

"You feel it too, huh?" Darius said. "Look at the wounds on the corpses. All sword markings."

Sword markings?

"Oh no," Ninten said, his eyes widening. "I can sense it."

"What?" Darius asked. After a moment, his eyes widened as well.

"Psionic residue," the said in unison.

They looked at each other, Darius' panicked gaze only making Ninten's heart pound more loudly. Everything started to click. The slash markings, the undisturbed setting… and both Ninten and Darius knew only one person who wielded a sword that left psionic residue behind.

Lucas.

"Let's get out of here," Ninten said. "If he comes for us…"

"He _might_ not attack us, since I work for Giygas," Darius said. "And we _might_ be able to stall one hit and teleport away. But who in their right minds would risk it?"

Darius and Ninten ran off side by side back into the alley that they came through. Ninten honed in on his psionic senses in an attempt to detect Lucas. The fact that he sensed no auras besides Darius' relieved him but put him on edge at the same time. He had no idea where the murderous savant could be.

 _Funny,_ Ninten thought, letting a wry grin come to his face. _All it takes is a common mortal danger for me and Darius to feel perfectly comfortable around each other._

* * *

Lucas dismissed his stained glass sword, watching it fizzle out of existence. The blood of hundreds that marked his sword dropped to the ground with a soft _splat._ Lucas crossed his arms over his chest before catching himself. Human-like motions, even seemingly inconsequential ones, were dangerous. If he spent enough time acting like a human, he might start to _think_ like a human.

Lucas reminded himself that he was perfect. Master Giygas had given him true life. He could feel the power of psionic savantism surging through his veins. Nobody had stopped him in Scaraba. Nobody could stop him here.

So why did Lucas sometimes hesitate before killing?

He detected footsteps approaching with his heightened sense of hearing. Lucas stepped out from inside the building that he stood in, careful not to make unnecessary noise. From half a mile away, he honed in on two youths with his enhanced vision. Their psionic auras pulsated, strong but scattered and unorganized. These two youths were no masters with psionics; Lucas could likely kill them in an instant if he could get close enough to land a blow.

However, despite Lucas' power, he could find no way to mask his psionic aura, meaning that psions could detect him quite easily. If he got much closer, then even two novices such as these children would likely notice him. Lucas summoned his sword anyway. They wouldn't expect a boy with a fancy sword to kill them with a single stroke. Psions were accustomed to surviving the impossible; most of them lacked a healthy sense of fear.

Lucas took careful steps forward. Closer… closer… how long would it be before they noticed his presence? As he approached the youths, he got a better view of their features.

One of them looked exactly like Ness.

The realization hit Lucas like a punch in the gut. Lucas tried to shove the sensation down but it only came back stronger. He felt… nauseous. But that made even less sense. He always maintained a regular sleep schedule and diet. Nothing could possibly cause his stomach unrest. This experience was simply impossible.

So why wasn't it going away?

 _"Why didn't you fight?"_

 _"Because we're friends."_

Darius had lied. Lucas looked over at the boy next to the Ness look-alike. Darius had told him that he would stop thinking about Ness after he released Kumatora. His illogical logic made sense; Lucas made up for his supposed "guilt" by performing a "good deed." Yet here Ness was, tormenting him from the grave.

It wasn't fair. When Lucas sliced someone apart with his blade, they were supposed to die! Yet Ness lived on as a tumor inside of Lucas' brain.

Lucas registered anger in his system and quashed the emotion. Too human-like, too dangerous.

He still wanted to punch something.

Lucas looked back over at the Ness look-alike and saw the horror written on his face as the boy looked at the people that Lucas had killed.

 _"I thought that I could… save you."_

Shut the psych up.

 _"Goodbye, Lucas."_

Just shut up!

Lucas buried his face in his hands, all the while recognizing the danger signs of such an action. Psionic savants weren't human. They weren't limited by evolution or genetics; they didn't succumb to illogical tendencies. Lucas was _perfect._

 _"Do you still have emotions left inside of you?"_

 _Yes, Ness,_ Lucas thought. _I still have more emotions left inside of me than I want._

When Lucas looked up, Darius and the Ness look-alike were gone. He had missed his opportunity to kill them. For a malfunction, it resulted in quite a small cost. Two barely trained psions wouldn't likely mess with Giygas' plans in a significant way.

Still, blood pounded in Lucas' ears as he walked away to acquire new targets. Why was that?

* * *

By the time that Ninten and Darius arrived at the scene of conflict, the actions had died down. Explosions ceased to sound; Ninten detected no high-power psionics in the vicinity. Upon arrival, a pair of Dalaamian archers mounted atop horses pointed their bows at Ninten and Darius and shouted something in Dalaamian.

"What does it say about us that we don't even pause to think before throwing ourselves into a situation like this?" Darius asked, not loudly enough for the Dalaamians to hear.

"Do you speak Dalaamian?" Ninten asked. "Because I don't think that they speak Eagleish."

The soldiers grunted. Their horses whinnied. Ninten imagined one of their arrows entering his chest and grimaced.

"Sorry," Darius said with a shrug. "Spent my whole life in Scaraba. I can speak Persian, but I doubt that helps."

"Should we show them that we're psions?" Ninten said, "Or do you think that they'll see it as a sign of aggression?"

Before Darius had a chance to answer that question, Poo ran up on foot, shouting something in Dalaamian at the soldiers. They lowered their bows and trotted away.

"That was close," Poo said. "Probably for them more than you. What a messy battle, am I right? We just wanted to protect the civilians since Kim holds enough power in Dalaam to basically run the country, but the Ceresians think that we're after control of their planet."

"Ah," Darius said. "That will get them to fight back. They don't give a shit about Dalaam or Scaraba, but if you can catch them fighting on their own turf…"

"So what are we going to do about it?" Ninten asked. "We don't have Kumatora's assistance, and I haven't seen the rest of the gang recently."

"Well, I was never really a part of your gang," Poo said. "But I know where some of us students are. Hey, Claus!"

Claus ran out from a clump of Dalaamian soldiers, wearing his standard breastplate and eye patch combo. A smile came to his face as he jogged up to Ninten.

"Hey, nice to see that you're still alive," Claus said, embracing Ninten in a hug.

Ninten struggled not to squirm away from Claus' grip. Out of everyone that he knew, Claus was the _last_ one he would suspect to hug him on sight.

"Nice to see you too," Ninten managed.

"So you're working with the protestors?" Darius said, raising an eyebrow at Claus.

"Yeah." Claus released Ninten, who stumbled back a couple steps. "I even got arrested. They stole my breastplate, so I took one back."

Claus pointed to the white breastplate on his chest and grinned. After a moment, his face turned downcast. He sighed, shaking his head and closing his eyes.

"It feels like the universe is tearing itself apart," Claus said. "I may just be a dumb warrior, but I don't think that things have ever been _this_ bad before."

"I doubt they have," Darius said.

"My troops are exhausted," Poo said, "And Claus is no exception. We just fended off an attack from Ceres."

"Psyching Venus," Claus said. "I hope that I stop running into her."

"You mean the _pop singer?_ " Ninten said.

"And more importantly," Poo said, looking Ninten in the eye, "Ana chose to side with Monotoli and the Ceresian elite."

 _Of course she psyching did,_ Ninten thought. _She's so scared of change that it has to smack her in the face before she accepts it._

"She's fine," Claus said. "Knocked out, but fine."

"That's good, at least," Darius said. "She's a survivor type. Never happy to see those people go."

 _And what about me?_ Ninten said. _Am I just a roll over and die type?_

"So where are we headed to next, Your Majesty?" Claus asked Poo.

Ninten blinked, searching for a glint of humor in Claus' expression and finding none.

"Ah," Poo said, smiling at Ninten. "Yes, Kim made me King of Dalaam. As for our next move…"

Darius tensed, looking up at the sky. Ninten followed Darius' gaze, expecting to see incoming sky runners from the Ceresian army.

Instead, he saw a massive screen in the sky that stretched across the entire city.

"Holy Shi-" Claus said.

"Attention, people of Ceres," came a noise from the sky that echoed throughout the city.

"It's like a scrying screen," Poo said. "You know, looking into water to see what someone else is doing. But this person's using the entire _sky_ to show people what's happening."

Ninten studied the screen itself and saw five Ceresian psions carrying blades. They surrounded a Dalaamian man that Ninten recognized as Kim Jang-Li, the leader of the peaceful protests.

"Good thing Jeff made it out of there in time," Poo said.

 _Huh?_ Ninten thought. _Jeff was here?_

As Kim's mouth moved on the screen, sound reverberated all across the city:

"Listen to me. I organized the protests against the Ceresian government, but I am not an enemy of Ceres."

"Shut up!" one of the Ceresian psions said, stabbing Kim.

Oddly enough, the sword left a sizable cut when it exited Kim's body. Normally, psions could prevent any damage to their body by letting their psionic aura absorb the blows.

"Oh no," Claus said. "His aura must be running low. Otherwise, it would have absorbed that stab just fine."

"But a powerful psion wouldn't just let their aura deplete," Darius said, furrowing his eyebrows. "He could probably teleport out at any time. Why stay in the middle of five Ceresian psions when you don't even have an aura to protect you?"

Ninten and Poo exchanged a glance. Ninten's thought was crazy, but Poo's eyes flashed with agreement. They both knew that the other was thinking and didn't see any other alternatives.

"He's bleeding on purpose," Ninten said.

"What?" Claus asked, looking at Ninten like he was crazy. "Why would he possibly do that?"

"Same reason he's not fighting back," Poo said.

"Please," Kim said, up on the screen. "Think about who the real enemy is. Is it the person who comes from another planet? We're still people down inside, no matter what culture we came from or what color our hair is."

The psions took turns stabbing Kim. The protest leader sank to his knees, bleeding from dozens of cuts on his body.

"None of those cuts look serious," Darius said. "Alarming to an observer, maybe, but not serious to Kim's health. That's the point, isn't it?"

"Right," Poo said, affirming Darius' claim with a nod. "This is just another peaceful protest."

"Clever," Ninten said.

 _And probably something that I should have thought of,_ he added to himself. _Boras taught me that lashing out usually means that we are afraid rather than strong. Taking the hits and smiling through the pain requires more strength than fighting back._

"So he has our attention, and he's established himself as the victim," Darius said. "Now what?"

* * *

"Oh, psych," Jeff said, watching the Ceresian psions stab Kim on his screen in the Shard of Ceres. "What have you done?"

"Listen to me, Ceres!" Kim said, not even flinching as another sword entered his side. "We must unite in love rather than hate. We cannot keep bleeding ourselves dry. Dalaamain, Ceresian, what does it matter? We're all here, and we can all stand up to Giygas and the starmen."

Despite the dozens of cuts on his body, Kim stood more confidently than the Ceresian psions that attacked him. He looked passionate yet controlled, powerful yet considerate, and battered yet unbroken. How could one man possibly give off so many messages at once?

"Dang," came a voice next to Jeff, causing him to jump. "That guy's a real pro."

Jeff jerked his head to the side, sighing in relief upon spotting a familiar ghost bobbing up and down beside him.

"Voice," Jeff said. "You nearly gave me the scare of my life."

"Isn't that what we ghosts are supposed to do?" Voice asked, smirking at Jeff.

Voice's resemblance to Lucas still astounded Jeff. The ghost mentioned that he actually _was_ Lucas from an alternate universe, but even identical twins looked different to someone who saw them often enough. But then again, Voice could appear however he wanted to, so maybe Jeff was overthinking this one.

"Ask yourself a question," Kim said, looking straight into the screen. He stretched his arms out wide, prompting the Ceresian psions to stab his hands. "Is this the universe that you want to live in? A universe where we kill each other for meaningless causes."

A psion tried to tackle Kim to the ground, but the Dalaamian protest leader didn't budge. Between the pain written into his expression and the determination in his eyes, Jeff's heart skipped a beat each time a Ceresian psion stabbed him. The universe couldn't afford to lose a man like this.

"What's he doing?" Jeff said. "Why is he just talking?"

"He's probably broadcasting his voice and image all across the city of Ceres," Voice said. "These sorts of stunts only work if there are people around to sympathize."

One of the psions on the screen created an explosion that filled the area around Kim with smoke and dust. After a few moments, the haze cleared away. Kim coughed yet remained just as stout as before.

"Please… do you really want to see more of this?" Kim said. "Because I am just one out of many. While nobody can ignore this image in the sky, thousands die off screen without recognition. They could be your lovers, your family." Kim grimaced, his voice dropping to a little more than a whisper. "They could be your friends."

"Stop your psyching preaching!" one of the Ceresian psions said, ramming his sword straight through Kim's chest. "Psych you, anarchist. Fight back!"

"If I resort to violence, then we both lose," Kim said. "I am saving both of us by putting peace first."

"There are times to sit back and there are times to fight," Voice said with a snort. "And that man's hardly the image of morality, either."

"Yeah, I know," Jeff said. "But I think he's trying to prove a point here. Ceres was the one that started the attack on its own civilians. Ceres was the one to resort to playing off of people's fears. Dalaam is just here to help Ceres out."

"But that's a false dichotomy," Voice said. "Plenty of people in Ceres are fine, and plenty of people in Dalaam are ruthless killers."

"Again, he's just trying to prove a point," Jeff said. "If you saw this as a civilian, who would you side with?"

"I guess you're right," Voice said. "It just bugs me how some people act like they know everything."

"I don't think Kim sees himself in that light," Jeff said. "But he knows that the people won't support an uncertain ruler."

The psions continued to stab Kim. He didn't try to fight back, and he didn't even try to duck out of the way. He bled from more than fifty cuts on his body. He fell to his hands and knees, panting like a dog.

"Well?" one of the psions asked. "Are you going to start defending yourself now?"

Kim looked up at the psion with an insufferable smile. The psion's face darkened as he smashed his sword into Kim's face. Kim went sprawling on the ground, letting out a groan.

"He's pushing this pretty far," Jeff said. "He might actually find himself in serious danger if he doesn't get out of there quickly."

Kim took a deep breath and then forced himself to his feet. He raised his arms to the sky, and Jeff could see his face pale from the loss of blood.

"You can break me," Kim said, his voice growing louder with each word. "You can kill me. But you will _never_ break my spirit. While you wage wars out of fear and malice, we give the people a voice. When our hearts beat as one, you will find that your fear is hollow."

"Quiet!" A psion stabbed Kim through the back, the tip of his sword sticking out of Kim's chest. "It's time to silence you once and for all."

Even with a sword stuck inside of his body, Kim stood up straight. He grimaced and furrowed his brow, but the pain didn't take away the conviction in his eyes.

A single tear ran down each of Kim's cheeks. Time seemed to slow as the droplets of sorrow fell off of Kim's cheeks and landed on the ground below.

"I cry for the fallen," Kim said. "I cry for everyone caught in this cursed cycle of hatred and war."

 _Come on,_ Jeff thought. _Now's your time to leave. You can't take much more._

Another psion raised her sword, stepping up to Kim. Jeff cried out in alarm, even though he knew that Kim couldn't possibly hear him.

"Oh psych," Voice said, his eyes widening. "Dark Dragon have mercy on our spirits…"

"I cry," Kim said, looking up at the sky, "For all of us."

The second psion swung her sword at Kim's neck. A second before impact, Kim closed his eyes.

The psion's swing took Kim's head off.

* * *

The sight of Kim's decapitated body lingered on the screen for a moment before fading away. Ninten turned to look at the rest of the group, whose gazes were still directed at the sky. Even after they turned to look back at each other, nobody said a word.

 _Was that his plan?_ Ninten thought. _Did he intend to die? Did he want to die?_

"No," Darius finally said. "This isn't possible. Why would he…?" Darius shook his head. "That old fool. Nothing's worth throwing your life away for."

Darius looked between Ninten, Claus, and Poo. None of them responded.

"He knew," Darius said. "He psyching _knew._ In my entire life, I've never seen… Agh!"

Darius turned away, balling his hands into fists. His shoulders tensed up as he took quick, shaky breaths.

"I'm sorry," Poo said. "He meant a lot to you, didn't he?"

"He was like the father that I never had," Darius said. "Uncle Jang-Li… why didn't you tell me what you were going to do? I _trusted_ you!"

Darius turned back to Ninten and the others, his gaze murderous.

"I'm sorry," Darius said, "But I need some time to myself. Teleport."

Before anyone could say a word, Darius vanished from sight.

* * *

"Why would he just die like that?" Jeff asked. "Anyone could have seen that he still had the power to escape up until his last moments. Why didn't he save his own life? He already made his point!"

He took another look at the screen in front of him. The lack of nausea that the gory scene provoked surprised Jeff; normally he was quite squeamish around blood and death.

Perhaps this time, he was just too angry to care.

"Maybe that was the idea," Voice said. "He could have saved himself, but he died for no tangible benefit. How does that make you feel?"

Jeff grunted.

"Exactly," Voice said. "He wanted everyone to feel that way _._ " Voice shook his head. "Still seems a little crazy to me, but that's all I've got."

 _He sacrificed his life in an attempt to inspire thousands,_ Jeff thought. _Would I have done the same in his situation?_

Probably not. After all, with so many people out there, why should it be _his_ responsibility to give the entire planet of Ceres something to fight for?

"That's what made him an extraordinary person," Jeff said, mostly to himself. "Not his beliefs that love shall defeat hate, and not his refusal to give in. Any normal person can have those attributes, and plenty of good people don't. He was a great person because he was willing to stand up, even when nobody asked him to."

"That's true," Voice said. "It reminds me of my brother, honestly. Those unexpected acts of compassion really help to win people over."

"It's funny," Jeff said. "All our lives, we're told not to keep to ourselves and let other people deal with their own business. We're taught that to care about someone else's problems makes us nosy and obnoxious. But I don't think anyone can fault Kim's intentions today. If we win, he'll go down in history as a hero."

"A hero indeed," Voice said. "I guess that we should do our best to live out his legacy."

"Right," Jeff said. "I still need to discover the secrets behind the Shard."

* * *

Ninten had never really known Kim Jang-Li, but a part of him still felt… empty. After seeing the poor man get stabbed again and again, it became nearly impossible _not_ to side with him.

"Well, psych," Claus said. "As if this conflict wasn't complicated enough. Am I not allowed to swing my sword at Ceresian psions after all that peace talk?"

"I'm not sure," Poo said. "I doubt that most people know what to think."

A mounted soldier rode up to Poo and shouted something in Dalaamian. Poo's face turned pale; he turned to look at Ninten and Claus with wide eyes.

"Oh, psych," Poo said.

"What is it?" Claus asked.

Poo shouted something back at the soldier in Dalaamian. Ninten didn't need to understand the language to catch the panic in Poo's voice.

"What happened?" Claus repeated.

"It's Lucas," Poo said. "One of my scouts saw him nearby, attacking civilians."

"Lucas?" Claus said. "We need to do something about this!"

"We're going to run away," Poo said. "I'm not an expert on savants, but I don't think that even our entire army stands a chance against him. Didn't you try to attack him on Vulcan once?"

"Yeah, and we _won,_ " Claus said.

"You landed one hit," Poo said, "And freed him from Fassad's possession. It won't be as easy this time. As the direct commander of this squad, as well as the leader of this entire army, I am pulling out. My sages already know where to teleport when in danger, so we should keep the army intact."

"That's my brother out there!" Claus said. "And he's hurting people. Please, I can't just stand by and watch that happen."

"I won't force you to do anything," Poo said, "But the Dalaamian army is leaving."

"Claus," Ninten said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll deal with Lucas when we can, but we'll need to find out some trick to beat him first. Attacking him now is like spitting in death's face."

Claus' shoulders slumped.

"All right," he said. "I guess I can wait a little longer. But…" he dug his nails into his palm, grimacing. "Maybe it's time for Lucas to hear the truth.

"The truth about what?" Ninten asked.

"Less talk, more moving," Poo said. "Let's clump together with the army so that the sages and I can teleport everyone away."

* * *

Ninten had to credit Poo; it didn't take him long to assemble the army. They gathered any civilians nearby and warped away all at once. Ninten breathed a sigh of relief when the army finally teleported away. If Lucas had sprung on them while they were all clumped up… Ninten resolved not to take that line of thought any further.

As reality reformed around him, Ninten's relief left him in an instant.

Poo and the sages had teleported them right next to a Ceresian army.

Soldiers from both sides cried out in alarm, readying their weapons. Ninten's heart raced. Would he really find himself in a battle against other humans just like him right after Kim gave his dying speech about love and unity? The soldiers raised their weapons, looking at the other side with distrust.

Not one of them moved forward to attack.

"Greetings, Ceresians," Poo said, his voice booming from what Ninten suspected was a psionic enhancement. The Dalaamian King stepped out of his army, holding up a hand.

"Likewise, Dalaamians."

A woman wearing psion's purple robes stepped forward from amidst a sea of white armor. She regarded Poo, scanning over each part of his expression. Ninten couldn't put his finger on it, but something about her seemed familiar…

Ninten gasped out loud upon as the realization hit him.

"No psyching way," Ninten said. "That's the pop singer _Venus,_ isn't it?"

"Unfortunately," Claus said. "I tried to lose her back in Scaraba."

"We just saw Kim's final speech, as you likely did," Venus said. "I'm not prepared to trust you completely, but what do you say that we put things on hold and hunt down some starmen? Sounds better than killing other humans, at least."

A smile came to Poo's face.

"I am more than happy to accept your offer," he said. "Let us focus on our common enemy."

 _This isn't exactly joining in love like Kim advocated,_ Ninten thought. _But at least it's a start. I don't think that he could be too disappointed if he saw this._

* * *

 **Lucas is back! And he's the big bad enemy right now. I wonder how Ana is going to react to this...**

 **Voice:** A different Lucas from another dimension that's closer to Mother 3 canon. At this point he's a spirit that wanders between different universes.


	35. Chapter 31: Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire

_When I say that "we" killed most of the ancients, it was mostly Lorraine. She organized the plans, and she enacted them. We were pieces on a board for her to use._

 _At the time, nobody found that unusual._

 _Oh, how our views changed._

* * *

Darius back in the starman base, struggling to keep his composure. Normally, a psionic barrier blocked anyone from exiting or entering Ceres, but the starmen told Darius a way to bypass the barrier. If he first teleported underground, he could find paths through the barrier manually.

"WELCOME BACK," a voice boomed in his mind.

Darius took a deep breath, then turned to face Giygas. The alien floated in front of a set of green capsule pods. Darius shied back, knowing both the power of Giygas and the capsule pods far too well.

"Do you plan on attacking Ceres soon?" Darius said.

"I HAVE ALREADY STARTED."

Darius gritted his teeth. He knew that he couldn't possibly oppose _Giygas,_ but he wouldn't let himself sit by and watch Ceres go up in flames. Darius knew that he couldn't fight every battle that presented itself, but he also knew that there were times when he needed to stand up.

"Please," Darius said. "Try not to kill to many of us humans. For us, death is one of the worst fates possible."

"AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?"

Darius couldn't find an answer to that question.

"NOW," Giygas transmitted. "ABOUT YOUR MISSION."

Darius' heart leapt.

"The starman told me that it was okay to merely take her out of the fight…"

"I SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED IT FROM THAT ONE," Giygas said. "THAT STARMAN AND I SHALL HAVE A LITTLE CHAT."

"So you don't intend to punish me?" Darius asked, his heart racing from the anticipation.

"YOU SHALL NOT BE PUNISHED."

Darius released a sigh. Even though the universe itself seemed to be falling apart, things could be worse.

"I LEARNED SOMETHING FROM TESTING HUMAN FEARS," Giygas said. "YOU HUMANS ARE SURPRISINGLY RESILIENT WHEN YOU WANT TO BE. PUNISHING YOU EITHER FUELS YOUR ANGER OR BREAKS YOU. I DON'T WANT A BROKEN TOOL, NOR DO I WANT AN ANGRY ONE."

Darius cocked his head.

"INSTEAD," Giygas said. "I CAN USE YOUR FEARS BETTER WHEN I GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT."

"What do you mean by that?" Darius asked.

The next second, a force lifted up Darius and left him hanging in midair. He looked at Giygas, trying to contain the urges to flail and struggle.

"YOU WILL SEE SOON," Giygas said.

Another force pushed Darius towards Giygas. Darius spotted one of the green capsule tanks in front of Giygas, and after the lid popped open Darius' heart skipped a beat. He had people in those capsules before, and had no intention of feeling what they felt like from the inside.

"No!" Darius shouted. "Not the capsule! I… won't allow it. PK Freeze!"

The ice glanced off of Giygas, who didn't appear to notice it. Darius floated closer towards the capsule, this time struggling to break through the psionics that tossed him around like a doll.

Once Darius felt his feet touch the green liquid of the capsule, he knew that it was over.

"Please…" Darius said, looking up at Giygas.

 _It's okay,_ Darius told himself. _Who knows how much longer you would have lasted anyway? You knew that you were playing with fire, and you just got burned._

"I don't regret this," Darius said to himself. "I needed Giygas' guidance and strength to help the people I care about. Otherwise, I would have been another nameless corpse on the streets of Scaraba." Darius paused, the green liquid now up to his shoulders. "I wonder if this is how Ness felt."

"WORRY NOT. I DO NOT PLAN TO HARM YOU."

The lid to the capsule shut over Darius' head. He looked out through the clear material at Giygas, forcing himself not to cry. He couldn't afford to let weakness show during his last moments.

"EVERYONE HAS FEARS," Giygas said. "EVERYONE HAS WEAKNESSES. IT IS TIME FOR ME TO EXPLOIT YOURS."

"Why?" Darius said. "Why now, why here? Why me?"

"I WANT A BETTER SOLDIER," Giygas said. "YOUR MIND IS CLUTTERED. I SHALL CLEAN UP YOUR MIND AND PRESENT IT WITH THE TRUTH. YOU SHALL BECOME AN AGENT OF ORDER."

"You want me to be like those starmen and Lucas," Darius said. "You don't want me to have a will of my own."

"A WILL IS FINE. CONTRADICTORY VIEWS AND COMPLEX EMOTIONS ONLY HOLD YOU BACK."

Once, Darius would have agreed.

"So what exactly are you planning to do?" Darius said.

"YOUR GREATEST FEAR IS OF YOUR OWN WEAKNESS. YOU GREW UP IN A WORLD WHERE PEOPLE WOULD HURT YOU JUST BECAUSE THEY COULD. I SHALL FORCE THAT WEAKNESS UPON YOU. YOU SHALL KNOW YOUR WORST FEARS. THAT WILL CLEANSE YOUR MIND OF ALL THE NEEDLESS CHATTER."

"And how will that help anything?" Darius said. "I thought that you didn't want a broken tool!"

"AFTER THAT, I SHALL SAVE YOU. I SHALL GIVE YOU MORE STRENGTH THAN YOU'VE EVER KNOWN BEFORE. YOU WILL DO ANYTHING TO PROTECT THAT STRENGTH. NO MESSY FEELINGS, NO CONVOLUTED MORALS. YOUR STRENGTH COMES FROM ME, SO YOU WILL OBEY."

A chill ran down Darius' spine. This was _worse_ than any torture he could have conceived of. At least with physical pain, he would have the satisfaction of resisting for a time. Sure, he would break eventually, but he could spit in Giygas' face as he went down.

But Giygas was turning into someone that he hated, someone that he knew all too well.

"My demons come back to haunt me once again." Darius chuckled. "I escaped the streets and kept my morals intact, but my scars still bind me like chains. Is there anything more I could have done?"

"I SHALL NOT TURN YOU INTO SOMEONE ELSE," Giygas transmitted. "YOU SHALL BE A DIFFERENT DARIUS, A DARIUS THAT KNOWS THE ONE TRUE PATH FORWARD."

"That's what I'm most afraid of," Darius said to himself. "I'm turning into _them._ On the streets, people kicked us and beat us down because they were scared of us rising up. Now I shall act out of the same fear and become no different from a starman."

Darius braced himself for the pain, even though he knew that all of the preperation in the world couldn't save him. The green liquid started to rise above his shoulders. Darius knew from watching others that this was the point where they started to hallucinate. After the liquid covered him entirely, he would experience whatever Giygas _wanted_ him to experience.

 _So the first step, Giygas will put me in situations where I'm powerless so that I crave strength like a drug,_ Darius thought. _Ugh, that sounds painful enough already._

"DO NOT DESPAIR," Giygas transmitted. "AS YOU HUMANS SAY, WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER."

 _Maybe,_ Darius thought. _But maybe there's more to this world than strength and weakness after all._

* * *

"Voice," Jeff said. "How much can you help me with figuring out how the Shard works?"

"Me?" Voice asked, smiling in an attempt to look innocent. "What makes you think that I-"

"It's obvious," Jeff said. "You're a key part of the workings here in the Shard. You must know something."

Voice frowned.

"Well, you've got that part wrong," the ghost said. "I mean, you're right that I do know more than you about how this Shard works, but I'm not a key part of the process. Everything would work just fine if I decided to pack up my incorporeal luggage and truck it back to my own universe."

 _I'm still not sure I believe that Voice came from an alternate universe, despite what Diana said,_ Jeff thought, _But I guess it doesn't matter. If he knows things about the Shard, then I'll need his help._

"I mean, don't you want to figure out everything by yourself anyway?" Voice said. Spreading his arms out and exaggerating his voice, "You know, science."

Voice somehow got the word "science" to echo in Jeff's head, likely with some psionics that were frowned upon for spirits. Jeff shook his head. Why was he not surprised that Voice would got so far just for dramatic effect?

"I don't have to be the one to figure this out," Jeff said. "So long as _someone_ does, then it can help the human race in the same way. Deciding who gets credit for what is the worst part of the process."

"So you want to cheat," Voice said, a grin coming to his face. "You want me to just… give you the answer."

"Yes."

"To be honest," Voice said, "I don't know much more than you do. I even asked the Shard once how it worked and it refused to answer. First time that happened to me."

Jeff examined Voice's expression. His easygoing smile begged innocence and his relaxed posture put Jeff at ease. It didn't look like he was hiding anything.

In short, Voice was an excellent liar.

"Then who is the woman who displays the answers to the questions that people ask?" Jeff said. "A complex program or an actual living entity?"

Jeff smiled. _That_ got Voice's eyes to widen.

"When did I let that slip?" Voice asked.

"Last time I was at the Shard," Jeff said. "I don't think that Diana made much of it, but it always struck me as strange. You referred to the entity who gives the answers as a 'she.' It suggests that an actual person is pulling the strings behind the Shard, no?"

Voice shut his mouth, looking down at the ground.

"What's more," Jeff said. "For a building that the Osohe built, everything is oddly human. Words are written in Eagleish. The abstract carvings that appear further into the Shard resemble human-created abstract art. Maps and drawings in the Shard match what humans do with a pen or carving tools. The Shard wanted to appear strange, sure, but not _too_ strange."

Voice raised an eyebrow.

"Think about it," Jeff said. "If the Osohe created this and left it alone, wouldn't it represent _their_ values rather than ours? As I went further into the shard, the engravings and sculptures grew messier, creepier, and more surreal. But that's just to our highly specific human brains. We probably wouldn't comprehend what a race of aliens sees as disturbing or scary. The abstractions of the Shard were made for _us,_ Voice. Whoever maintains this building wants to keep the messages familiar enough to comprehend."

"And you're not sure that you're overthinking?" Voice asked, a playful smile popping back up onto his face. "The Osohe were quite similar to us humans. In my universe, they _were_ humans."

"Maybe," Jeff said. "But how do you account for the Shard changing its messages when I entered the second time? To me, it screams that someone is maintaining and shifting this building from behind the scenes." Jeff looked Voice in the eyes. "And I think you know who it is."

"And you want me to tell you?" Voice said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I just want to know how I can get to her," Jeff said.

 _And would she even help?_ Jeff wondered. _If she sat back for millennia while human wars waged and emperors inflicted genocides, would she help now? If she's an alien like I think she is, I really have no idea how she works. Will she appear kind and helpful? Proud and wrathful? Likely neither._

Jeff sighed. This would be one of his only chances to talk with the brains behind the Shard of Ceres. Unless someone found another miracle that would allow them to defeat Giygas, Jeff harnessing the Shard's strength was humanity's best bet for ridding itself of the alien menace.

"You mean you don't care who she is?" Voice asked, cocking his head.

"I think that I already know," Jeff said. "Is her name Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire? Queen of the Osohe?"

Voice recoiled as if struck.

"How could you possibly…?"

"I cheated," Jeff said. "It's something that I'm not opposed to."

"How?" Voice repeated.

"When I was back in my father's lab, the Phase Distorter showed me a clip of the past," Jeff said. "Lorraine used some fancy psionics and created the Shard from surrounding crystal buildings. Oh, and someone under the title of 'LOVE' sent me a few messages telling me to come here. It wasn't too hard to put the pieces together."

"So Lorraine wanted to meet you?" Voice said. "I can't tell if that's a good thing or not."

"What do you mean by that?" Jeff asked.

"…Nothing." Voice shook his head. "Nothing much. Unfortunately, I don't know where to meet with Lorraine. She just uses telepathy to talk to me when she wants me to know something. That's the only reason I even know her name."

Was Voice trying to deceive Jeff again? His face looked sincere, but the ghost's earlier lie to Jeff made it hard for him to trust anything that came out of Voice's incorporeal mouth.

"I don't have the evidence to call you out on this one," Jeff said, "Even though you could easily be lying to me again."

"It's easier when I can control exactly how I look," Voice said with an insufferable smile. "But I don't know much about Lorraine, other than that she was the Osohe Queen. If she could be hiding anywhere in the Shard, what makes you think that you can find her?"

Anywhere in the Shard? Something about that claim didn't quite seem right.

"You said that Osohe are similar to humans, right?" Jeff said. "I shall assume the same about their queen, then. I doubt that someone as powerful as her would resign to hiding behind a corner for millennia. Speaking of which," Jeff paced back and forth. "Is there even a way that she could have survived this long? Osohe can live for centuries, but not 3000 years. All bodies decay eventually."

"Maybe she discovered psionics that gave her immortality," Voice said with a shrug.

"You said that you used to be a psionic savant, right?" Jeff said. "You figured out how to bend psionics to your will. Did you ever discover a way to attain immortality?"

Voice shook his head.

"I still never figured out why I couldn't," the ghost said. "I became a savant to try and revive my family, but my universe had limited knowledge about the psionic realm. It never occurred to me that I could move corpses around like puppets but missing spirits prevented me from giving them true life. Now I know why I couldn't bring my loved ones back, but immortality still eludes me."

"In that case, I'm tempted to attribute Lorraine's continued existence to something other than psionic immortality," Jeff said. "Which brings me to the next question about the Shard. How exactly does the trial work? You know, the one where entrants have to see the people who try to bring them off the road? Is it an illusion?"

"Actually," Voice said. "It's an alternate reality. Not an alternate universe like mine, but…"

"A bubble between the physical and cognitive planes of existence?" Jeff suggested.

"My, my," Voice said, flying circles around Jeff. "You're quite full of surprises, aren't you?"

"My friends visited one to obtain an item called the Sound Stone. They told me how thoughts themselves shaped the space they visited as well as the physical laws of the universe. It made sense that the Shard's trial would be something similar. My trial contradicted the laws of physics in more ways than I feel like explaining right now."

"Most people don't see it that way," Voice said. "They just get caught up in the horror of it all."

"And that's the point of the bubble," Jeff said. "It's like a stage magician. They want you to look at the trick, not what they're doing behind the scenes. But the point is that Lorraine has the power to create these personalized bubbles for us, bubbles between the physical and psionic realms where her thoughts create challenges for us." Jeff smiled at Voice. "So what's stopping her from making a bubble for herself?"

White letters appeared on the wall in the form of a checklist:

 _-Shard is controlled by Lorraine_

 _-Lorraine created a special realm for herself and rests there_

 _-Realm is spooky and magical so she probably doesn't age and can look anywhere to get the information that she feeds to people through the Shard_

 _-Location: ?_

"Sorry," Voice said. "It helps me to write out stuff like this. So we've spent all this time and we've learned what I put up on the wall. It's impressive, but we still have no idea where we can actually find her."

Jeff looked at Voice's third point about Lorraine using her special realm to see everything that was happening in the universe. It _would_ give reason for how the Shard supposedly knew everything that happened throughout human history. Jeff gave himself a mental kick for not thinking of that himself.

"That's true," Jeff said. "We have no idea where we can access her realm. All of this information does nothing for me if I can't actually harness her power to help defeat Giygas."

Jeff looked over at the stained glass pillar in the middle of the room.

"If I asked it, do you think that…?"

"Since she knows that you already figured out this much about her," Voice said, "Maybe? I don't know her well enough to say."

Jeff walked up to the pillar and touched his hand to the cool crystal. He smiled, seeing his distorted reflection in the pillar.

"We've been theorizing about your Shard, Lorraine," Jeff said. "Are we correct in our guesses?"

A pause. Jeff looked back at Voice.

"She's thinking," Voice said. "The stories say that the Shard never lies, but I wouldn't trust that for an instant."

Glowing letters appeared on the ground beneath Jeff, spelling:

YES.

Voice looked at the message and his eyes narrowed.

"Would you have told me that information if I had asked instead of working it out myself?" Jeff said to the pillar.

The word on the ground vanished, and another one took its place.

NO.

Then:

YOU NEEDED TO PROVE YOUR WORTH.

"So have I proved my worth?" Jeff asked.

ALMOST.

"Will you tell me where I can find you?" Jeff said.

RIGHT HERE.

Jeff frowned. Right… here? In this room? Jeff tried to recall everything that Ninten told him about the Lost Underworld. He claimed that he went through an entrance, right? And that he could feel the physical universe start to break down a bit when he took the path towards the special realm?

"She could be trying to mislead you," Voice said.

 _No,_ Jeff thought. _She said that she wanted to meet me. She wants me to figure this out._

This was the _true_ trial of the Shard.

Jeff frowned, pacing back and forth.

"So what I know from Ninten's account," Jeff said, mostly to himself. "Doesn't help me much here. I should look for an entrance, but there's nothing in this room." Jeff scanned the room another time, seeing only solid crystal. "Yeah, nothing. But the Shard said that it was here, and I really don't have any other place to look. To be honest, luck has carried me through most of this reasoning. I guess I'll trust it one more time."

"I'm pretty sure that's a logical fallacy of some sort," Voice said.

"Hmm," Jeff said, ignoring Voice. "If I were Lorraine, where would I hide the entrance to her special realm? Considering that I already tried to mislead people and get them to focus on what was right in front of them in the trial of the firelit path… Hmm."

"Jeff," Voice said. "Are you sure that you want to-"

"What's the best disguise?" Jeff said, cutting Voice off. "For thousands of years, people didn't question the workings of the firelit path trial, even when the answer was right in front of them. The entrance to Lorraine's realm is probably in my sight." Jeff looked around the room. "No, no. I'm focusing on the wrong things. She wants to mislead by focusing attention on the surface layer."

"Jeff!" Voice said. "Can you even psyching hear me?"

"A secret door?" Jeff said to himself. "No, people would look for that. People would check the walls, floor, and ceiling for some sort of secret passageway. Somebody must have poked their way around every inch of this place and found nothing. But there's one object in this room that everyone knows the purpose of and nobody questions further. It would be the perfect place to hide a secret entrance."

Jeff looked at the pillar in the center of the room.

"Oh, psych," Voice said. "You're actually figuring this out."

"You knew?" Jeff asked, raising an eyebrow at Voice.

"I have a few educated guesses," Voice said, "And I think that you're spot on. I guess…" Voice turned away.

"What is it?" Jeff said.

"I guess if there's any time to meet Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire, it's now," Voice said. "But don't let your guard down around her."

"How much do you _really_ know about her?" Jeff asked.

"Too much. She scares the psych out of me. If she had access to my psionics…" Voice's incorporeal body shivered. "I'm sorry, but I need to get out of this universe. I hope that everything goes well on your end."

"Wait!" Jeff said. "What do you mean? What's Lorraine-"

"Plane Shift," Voice said.

The ghost disappeared, not even leaving behind a puff of smoke or dust. Jeff walked up and touched the air where Voice used to be. But that wasn't even really Voice, was it? Voice was a spirit who could just manipulate particles so that he _looked_ like a standard ghost from one of the movies.

 _Still, why would he just leave without telling me more about Lorraine?_ Jeff thought.

He harkened back to his first visit to the Shard when he used the pillar to look at what his friends were doing over in Winters and Dalaam. He forced himself to think about Dr. Andonuts, his insane father. Dr. Andonuts claimed that some person was pushing on the fabric of the universe to cause subtle changes and get their way. Even when dying, Dr. Andonuts wouldn't say who that person was.

It sounded suspiciously similar to Voice's words before his abrupt departure.

 _But if my father was referring to Lorraine,_ Jeff thought, _Would she have let me see him on the screen in the first place?_

Jeff had plenty of time to think later. The sooner that he could get to Lorraine and harness the Osohe Queen's powers, the better chance they had of defeating Giygas.

 _And how much are you willing to sacrifice?_ Jeff asked himself. _Will you kill Giygas if it unleashes another superweapon onto the world?_

Jeff contemplated that question often, and each time he came no closer to finding the truth. He looked back at the pillar in the center of the room. Sure, common knowledge dictated that it knew everything about human and Osohe history, but what if it had another purpose? What if it locked the entrance to Lorraine's special realm? Nobody would think to look further into the pillar that held the knowledge of the universe. It would be the perfect disguise.

Jeff walked up to the pillar, taking a deep breath.

"I would like to see Lorraine," he said. "The password is LOVE. The entrance to her domain is right beneath this pillar."

 _"Password accepted,"_ came a voice that echoed in his mind.

Cracks started to form on the pillar. Jeff's eyes widened as more cracks formed, racing up and down the crystal while branching off to form new lines of cracks.

 _The pillar's destroying itself,_ Jeff thought. _All of the knowledge that it contains was a just a cover to hide what lies beneath._

The cracks increased in size and volume of sound. Jeff took a step back, imagining crystals shattering and spraying outwards from the pillar, tearing holes in his skin. Yeah, he could probably survive with his enchanted armor, but that didn't erase his fear. For a brief moment, the cracks stopped. Jeff held his breath.

Then the crystal pillar shattered.

Luckily for Jeff, the shards of the pillar didn't fly far before clattering to a stop on the ground. Jeff looked at the shattered crystals, seeing the calm blues and vibrant reds mixed with the rest of the colors of the rainbow. Most of the colored shards were smaller than Jeff's fist.

 _Is the shattering why this place is called the Shard of Ceres?_ Jeff wondered. _I always assumed it meant that the entire structure was a shard of the planet itself._

The ground under the spot where the pillar used to be opened up into a hole that Jeff's body could barely fit through. Jeff looked into the hole and couldn't see the bottom. He tiptoed up closer, careful not to cut his shoes on any of the crystal shards strewn about. Still no sign of the bottom.

Jeff took a deep breath. Was there any assurance that Jeff would even survive if he jumped down that hole? For all he knew, it could be another trap. He had broken the pillar and unlocked the way forward, yes, but he still wasn't ready to let his guard down. Voice didn't need to tell him to be cautious for Jeff to take the safe route.

Jeff's portocom buzzed. Another message from Lorraine, perhaps? Jeff pulled it out of his pocket and saw the same shaky letters that Lorraine always used to contact him.

 _Take a leap of faith, if you have the courage. I'll see you down the rabbit hole._

 _-LOVE_

Jeff frowned. Lorraine wanted him to jump down the hole, and Lorraine probably wouldn't spend all of the time and energy to lead Jeff here just to kill him off. Logically, jumping down the hole should be safe.

It still didn't make him _feel_ any safer.

"Psych," Jeff said out loud. "I miss Voice already. Where's another friendly ghost when you need one?"

Jeff took another look at the hole. If he didn't jump in, Giygas would probably roll over humanity without a real opposition. While some people might survive, Jeff doubted that the aliens would let someone like him with the capacity to build weapons walk free. If he didn't die here jumping down the hole, he would probably die at the tentacles of Giygas' starmen.

Or maybe Jeff's ego was getting to him. Maybe other people had plans to develop new technology and stop Giygas before he could destroy Ceres.

Jeff wasn't willing to take that chance.

Necessity, not bravery, caused Jeff to take a deep breath, close his eyes, and jump into the hole that opened after the pillar shattered.

 _I hope that I get to see Diana again,_ Jeff thought as he fell through the air. _I don't know if she has anyone left._

* * *

Diana Carpainter jolted awake. Sticky sweat covered her entire body. That wasn't normal, was it? She wouldn't expect her body to devote its energy to sweating while she was knocked out.

Diana looked around the room that she found herself in. Her father had knocked her out with his starman powers while restraining her arms so she couldn't sling any psionics back at him. Why hadn't he killed her right then and there? They both knew that Apollo Carpainter was a starman in disguise, and starman couldn't feel love or regret.

 _He wants me for something,_ Diana thought. _He…_

Diana gasped as the pieces of the room started to click together.

This was the home that Diana's father had raised her in. She was in the same bedroom that she and Minerva shared for the first 12 years of their life. Diana tried to breathe but felt an invisible force strangling her. She knew that it had nothing to do with psionics. She had been psyching _happy_ in this house. It had taken 40 years of her life to figure out that her happiness had all been a lie.

Diana ran out of the room, her heart pounding in her chest. It was all too much.

She skidded to a halt in the living room. Diana looked outside and saw green plants growing in the yard. Real plants so rare that only the rich could afford them?

A thought crossed Diana's head. Was this all an illusion? Did her father put her in one of the starman tanks that brainwashed people by showing them what they feared? Diana yelped as footsteps sounded from down the hall.

"Who are you?" Kumatora asked, walking into the room and raising an eyebrow.

Diana took a deep breath.

"Just me," Diana said. "Mr. Agerate. Diana Carpainter. Whatever you want to call me."

"You expect me to believe that you're both the mass murderer who ravaged Vulcan _and_ my psionics teacher?" Kumatora said.

"Why would I lie about something so strange?" Diana said.

Kumatora narrowed her eyes for a moment before nodding.

"I don't really trust you," she said, "But I guess it doesn't matter. Do you feel the ripples in the psionic realm?"

Now that she mentioned it, Diana _did_ notice something strange about her PSI vision. Everything looked the same, but she got the sensation that something was lurking right out of her field of vision. She assumed that it was just her paranoia playing tricks, but when she closed her eyes she could see the source.

"Something happened to the Shard of Ceres," Diana said.

"I think that might have been what returned us both to consciousness," Kumatora said. "To me, it sounded like a… call of some sort."

"Like a bird's song?"

"Yeah, but more sinister."

Diana frowned. Explaining psionic messages was difficult in the Eagleish language, which didn't have refined words for the objects of the cognitive realm. She couldn't picture what Kumatora was trying to say at all.

"But I can't teleport anywhere," Kumatora said. "I tried to head back to the chimera labs to see if Ninten's still there, but the manifestation failed. I don't know how we're going to get to the Shard."

"That's because we're on Vulcan," Diana said. "Most people can't teleport through the barrier that separates Ceres from the rest of the universe."

"Ah," Kumatora said. "That makes sense." She paused. "But I think that I did manage to break through the barrier once. I crash landed a ship there and was stuck in a coma for months."

 _I know,_ Diana thought. _I was the one who found you and healed you._

"Regardless, I have a way to bypass the barrier," Diana said. "A couple ways, actually, but this one is the easiest. Dimension door."

A portal appeared in front of Diana, leading to a world of infinite emptiness. A moment later, she summoned another portal to the outside of the Shard of Ceres.

"Let's hop through," Diana said. "You can teleport elsewhere once we reach Ceres, but I want to investigate the Shard. I'm certain that it gave off the strange signal that you mentioned earlier."

"You can tell that it came from the Shard, even from all the way out here?" Kumatora said.

"Yeah," Diana said. "I can't really explain it, but I can just… tell where those sorts of messages come from. It's how I tracked down the people that I killed as a part of my father's cult, actually."

 _Probably came from my starman half, to be honest,_ Diana thought. _But I can worry about that later._

"Lovely," Kumatora said. "But I'll stick with you, if that's all right. The Shard probably means more to me than it does to you."

"Hmm?" Diana asked. "How do you mean?"

"I'm going to meet my mother there," Kumatora said before hopping through the portal.

* * *

Jeff opened his eyes. First, he looked up, seeing a blue sky similar to Earth's and a sun blazing overhead. Next, he looked down at the glass road that stretched as far as he could see. Underneath the glass road, fish darted back and forth, their movements without pattern or reason. Looking out at the road in front of him, Jeff saw different fish swimming under different sections of glass.

 _Psych,_ Jeff thought. _The entire road has an aquarium underneath._

After that, he looked around him. He spotted curved buildings made of stained glass. Some were shaped like balls while others looked more like boxes but still boasted curvy lines instead of the corners and straight edges of Earth and Ceres architecture. The light shined through the colorful buildings, creating abstract images on the white rocks surrounding each building.

Jeff listened and heard music playing, although it didn't sound like any music Jeff had ever heard. It was slow yet uncontrolled, naturally chaotic without sounding jarring. Jeff was surprised by how much he liked the music. Vibrations ran up his spine, leaving him oddly satisfied.

Just what was this place?

Jeff looked around at the road, at the buildings, at the grass that surrounded it all. Not a single animal made a noise. No humans, no Osohe, no birds, no squirrels. Even though Jeff admired the natural beauty of the stained glass houses surrounded by white stones and lush grass, he felt alone in a vast world. He took another look down at the fish swimming under the glass. Even when the moved, Jeff couldn't hear a sound.

"This place is hard to come to terms with, is it not?" came a voice from behind Jeff. "I often think about leaving it all behind. But It's not easy to abandon such precious memories memories."

Jeff turned around, spotting a pink-haired woman standing a dozen paces away. She looked like an older version of Kumatora, from her medium-sized build to her low cheekbone to her radiant blue eyes. The woman smiled at Jeff and walked forward.

"My name is Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire, and I was the Queen of the Osohe," she said. "It is wonderful to finally meet you in person."

Lorraine extended a hand. Jeff shook it and smiled, the gears of his brain turning as he tried to figure out just how much of this woman's appearance and manner was genuine and how much was designed to act like a human and put Jeff at ease.

The games that the Shard of Ceres played still weren't over.

* * *

 **One favorite = one prayer for Darius.**

 **In all seriousness, I've had plans for Lorraine since book 1 of this fic but I got sidetracked with Vulcan, Dalaam, and Scaraba. Now that we're back on Ceres, the pieces are all coming together. I hope you enjoy what I have planned! :)**


	36. Chapter 32: Hardest Goodbye

_Nobody else believed me when I told them, but I think that another ancient besides Giygas and Lorraine still walks this planet._

 _Of course, it doesn't really matter in the end. Killing ancients isn't like killing Osohe or other animals. After all, their concept of "life" differs from ours quite greatly._

 _So why did Lorraine want us to kill them in the first place?_

* * *

"Looks like my Giygas sent my body out to battle," Mary said, looking up at a screen in the sky.

Starman Jenny followed Mary's gaze and looked at the screen. Beads of sweat rolled down Mary's face; her gritted teeth and stiff posture indicated what looked like physical exertion. Jenny didn't know too much about these humans, but Mary didn't appear to be performing any action that would put her under physical stress. Jenny gave herself a mental shrug and looked upwards.

Even though Jenny could normally see in all directions with her PSI vision, being in Magicant restricted her to seeing like a human. The screen in the sky displayed an empty street filled with rubble and toppled buildings. Friendly signs depicting flowers and food lay scattered on the street, many torn apart or missing chunks.

"This is what she sees, right?" Jenny said. "This is your… human vision."

"Right," Mary said, her voice strained. "That's what my body sees. Giygas is moving me towards the action. Were you looking at the sky to see Kim's speech? After that, many of the humans rallied together."

 _And rallied together, they will probably take out most of the starmen,_ Jenny thought. _Minerva Carpainter blew up most of us with nuclear weapons in her dying breath._

But Giygas had told her that death didn't hinder starmen. He had stuffed her into Mary's body where she now found herself, but what about the other starmen? Most of them have no bodies to hijack.

Still, Jenny knew that Giygas always planned out everything. He calculated every possibility and acted in a way that would minimize risk. If letting most of the starman military die in nuclear explosions didn't faze Giygas, it shouldn't faze Jenny.

"Wait," Mary said, turning to look at Jenny. "Did you sense that?"

Sense what? Jenny was about to respond when a wave of psionic energy slammed into her full-force. If she were to use a human metaphor, she would explain that it felt like being hit by an automobile. However, even the greatest of pains and fears were little more than nuisances to starmen; Jenny took a moment to recalibrate her systems and turned back to Mary.

"Lorraine," Jenny said. "Someone opened the pathway to Lorraine."

"Huh?" Mary said. "Who's that?"

"Queen of the Osohe. An ancient with comparable strength to Giygas. We killed most of the Osohe 3000 years ago, but Lorraine hid and we could never find her."

"And now she just resurfaced," Mary said. "What could that mean? She probably reawakened to oppose Giygas, right?"

"That she did," came a voice from behind Jenny. "And that changes the game quite a bit, I'm afraid. Mind Thrust."

Before Jenny could react, Mary cried out in pain and clutched her head. Jenny whirled around to see Fassad standing with his arms crossed and a downcast expression.

"I hope that you believe me when I say that I don't enjoy this," Fassad said. His gaze locked with Mary's. "But I can't stand to be trapped any longer. I know that if I take you out then I have a chance at controlling this body for myself."

"No!" Mary said. "Even if you kill me, then the ruthless part of me will just take over and raze more cities. You're not helping any-"

"I've done this before," Fassad said, firing a round of missiles at Mary. "I consider myself a seasoned veteran at body hijacking."

The missiles slammed into Mary, knocking her off her feet.

"I… can't…" Mary squeezed her eyes shut. "Please… no more…"

"I know," Fassad said. "It's a scary prospect, being trapped again. I don't like this feeling of helplessness any more than you do. It's either you or me, Mary." Fassad's eyes narrowed. "And I've suffered for longer."

"Wait," Jenny said.

"Hmm?" Fassad turned his gaze towards Jenny. "You're a starman. It doesn't matter to you who rules this body."

Mary opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came up. Her muscles tensed as she writhed on the floor.

"You did that to her," Jenny said.

"Actually, no," Fassad said. "While I certainly would have no objections to something like that, the pain is a burden that Mary took on herself. She's trying to impose her will on this body, and she's fighting a losing battle. Sooner or later, she would have given in anyway."

 _So that's why she looked so strained,_ Jenny thought. _She was using all of her energy to get through to her body._

"So I'll put her out of her misery," Fassad said. "Mind thrust."

Mary jerked once and fell still. Jenny knew that starman couldn't feel emotions, but something about Fassad's actions made her want to strangle him.

"Why?" Jenny said. "Why now?"

"Sorry," Fassad said. "But I'm even less likely to tell you anything than your alien master is. Teleport."

Starman Jenny fired off a beam, but Fassad was already gone by the time it reached him.

* * *

Ana woke up with a sore back. She groaned, standing up off of the hard ground and stretching her arms. She didn't quite remember what had happened, but she could still feel the lingering pain.

"Well, it's about damn time," came a nearby voice.

Ana whirled around to face Claus. He wore an easygoing smile that Ana found quite suspicious. She didn't imagine Claus as an actor, but that kid was _never_ pleased with anything. Adrenaline rushed through Ana's system. She couldn't quite remember, but something about this whole situation irked her…

Memories flashed past Ana's eyes. Claus diving into the Ceresian forces and sowing chaos. Explosions shaking the ground and toppling buildings. Ana gasped, clutching her head in pain.

"Ana!" Claus said, his face growing concerned. "Is everything all right?"

"Call weapon," Ana said, summoning a battleaxe and pointing it at Claus. "Don't you dare take a step closer."

Claus' face paled.

"Listen," he said. "I know that we fought on different sides, but-"

"No buts!" Ana said, her heart pounding in her chest. "Stay away from me!"

"You psyching lost, Ana," Claus said. "Your team scattered and abandoned you. We took you unconscious and healed you up. We don't have to be enemies anymore."

Ana started shaking.

"Ana?" Claus said, his eyes widening in concern.

 _Who do I trust?_ Ana thought. _What do I believe?_

"Look at me, Ana," Claus said. "I'm a terrible liar. We're here to help you."

His face… Ana hadn't ever seen Claus this genuinely worried about somebody else. His eyes never wavered as he scanned Ana for ways that he could help. It reminded her of...

 _Ness._

Ana's stomach lurched, and she nearly vomited all over the street. Ness was gone, all because she hadn't been strong enough to protect him.

"Ana, think about all of those memories we share," Claus said. "Do you remember me trying to bust you out of that Scaraban prison? And how it turned into you saving me? I'm still that person, Ana. I don't want to hurt you."

"It's not that," Ana said. "I do trust you, Claus." _I trust you as much as I can, anyway._

Claus' shoulders relaxed.

"I'm glad," he said.

Psych, the smile that he wore made Claus look even more like Ness. He cared that much about obtaining her trust and she couldn't even tell him the full truth about it? Ana supposed that this was one of the many reasons why she was a terrible person.

"Well, I'm not going to keep you here," Claus said. "I understand how messed up this whole war is, and you probably want some personal space. We made a truce with a Ceresian legion a while back, so now we're all focused on hunting starmen. We teleported over here because we were afraid of Lucas finding us back where we fought earlier."

 _A truce…_ Ana thought, considering the implications.

She wanted to be happy, but nothing could break through the contempt that she felt for fighting and nearly dying in a skirmish that simply ended in a truce.

 _But that's what I'm fighting for, isn't it?_ Ana thought. _I want to create a world of peace. This is the first step forward._

Ana noted the tidbit about Lucas, trying not to look too excited. So far as she remembered, Claus didn't know about her plan to kill Lucas, and she didn't want to give him an excuse to try and stop her. Ana smiled and walked into the Dalaamian war camp after saying goodbye to Claus.

Little did he know that this would probably be the last time Ana ever spoke to him.

After a few minutes of wandering the streets, she sensed a psionics-user approaching her from behind. She had encountered this person enough to recognize his aura on first perception.

"Hello, Poo," Ana said, not bothering to turn around. "What are you up to?"

Poo circled around and walked in front of her. Instead of wearing only his standard tunic, a sparkling gold cloak covered most of his clothes. It took Ana a couple seconds of staring before formulating any sort of thought about it. Only after staring at his cloak did she spot the silver crown on his head.

"Fancy, isn't it?" Poo said. "Psionically enchanted to ward off attacks, too. This cloak and diadem are traditional objects that the king is required to wear." Poo pulled his right arm out from under his cloak, revealing a golden bracelet. "I also have this. They're all gilded, though, which seems a little tacky. But apparently that's how they were made."

"Besides," Ana said, "I bet that iron holds up against more wear and tear than solid gold would."

"Bronze, but yeah." Poo shrugged.

"Well congratulations on your coronation, King Poo," Ana said, a smirk coming to her face. "Sorry that I missed it."

Poo matched Ana's smirk, putting his hands on his hips.

"You're still far smoother than Claus and Ninten in social situations," Poo said. "But I should probably go now. I have to oversee an army." Poo brought a finger up to his throat and made the motion of slitting this throat while trying to look dead. "Fun stuff. I'll see you around."

"Ninten's here?" Ana said.

Psych. As if she didn't have enough stresses to deal with.

"Yeah. You see that building over there?" Poo pointed to what looked like little more than a shack. "The one that looks like it's about to crumble any minute now? Ninten insisted that he stay there. Said that even if it did collapse, he could survive as a psion so it should be him there."

"Classic," Ana said.

"I know, right?" Poo laughed. After a moment, his expression grew somber. "Believe it or not, he helped me through those first few months on Ceres where I didn't know anybody and wasn't allowed to know anybody." Noticing Ana's confusion, he continued, "My father didn't want me to mingle with the outside universe more than completely necessary as a psion, so he told me to keep to myself. It seems so silly now. I didn't gain anything from those days spent eating and studying alone, and my father's not even around anymore."

"Isn't the Mu that your sages use just another way of looking at psionics?" Ana said.

"Correct," Poo said. "It's all just so silly. Dalaam hates the outside universe because it calls Mu 'psionics' instead. It makes me want to clunk some heads together." Poo shook his head. "I should actually go now. See you, Ana."

"Goodbye," Ana said. _This is probably the last time we'll ever talk,_ she almost added out loud.

Ana looked at Poo's sparkling cloak as he walked off into the distance. He didn't act any more regal than before, but maybe that was because he always acted regal even as a prince. Well, Dalaamian-style regal, at least. Confident but measured, strong but sensitive, flashy but humble. Maybe those Dalaamians did come up with good practices every now and then.

Ana barely remembered walking towards Ninten's shack. When she opened the door, nobody stood inside. Ana sighed, partly from relief but partly from disappointment. Telling Ninten her plan of action was the last thing that she wanted to do, but she did enjoy his presence.

 _It's probably for the best,_ Ana thought. _He would try to stop me._

Ana summoned a piece of paper and a pen, and started writing a note:

 _Ninten,_

 _I'm sorry to leave you like this, but I hope that you understand. It's time for me to avenge Ness, and I don't have much to live for in this universe anyway. I'm a burden to everyone, most of all myself._

 _But hey, look on the bright side. There's an off chance that I actually kill-_

"What are you writing there?" came Ninten's voice from outside the shack.

Ana jolted straight up from surprise. She whirled around and regarded Ninten with a glare.

"Whoa," Ninten said, holding his hands up, "I didn't mean to-"

"It's not you," Ana said. "In fact, that's the whole point. Don't expect to ever see me again."

"What do you mean?" Ninten said.

Ana walked past Ninten, handing him the incomplete note.

"Avenging Ness?" Ninten said. "You mean fighting _Lucas?_ Ana, that's suicide!"

"It reads like a suicide note for a reason," Ana said, walking away from Ninten's shack.

Ninten ran forward to keep up with Ana.

"Listen, Ann," Ninten said. "You just woke up, and you're probably-"

"Don't try to pass this off as a bad mood or a phase," Ana said. "This is the real me. I fantasized about killing myself for years. But now I don't have to."

"You're insane," Ninten said. "You're actually psyching insane. I thought I was the one who would develop schizophrenia."

Wait, what?

"I mean…" Ninten said, his eyes widening as he realized what he just said. "Yeah, basically."

"How do you know?" Ana said.

"That I'm supposed to develop schizophrenia? I'm fine. It probably won't happen for a couple years at least. You, on the other hand…"

"Oh, _I_ have schizophrenia?"

"You need help," Ninten said. "You're not going to go out there and fight psyching _Lucas._ "

"Who's going to stop me?" Ana asked. "You?"

"I'll try," Ninten said, his expression darkening.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you in person," Ana said. "You always try to control everyone around you without really caring about how they feel."

It was the most hypocritical statement Ana could have possibly said, and she knew it. But as Ninten's eyes widened in shock, she knew that it worked.

 _Hate me, Ninten,_ Ana thought. _I'm just a heartless bitch that tries to make your life miserable. Be happy that I won't pester you any further._

"Ana," Ninten said, the pain in his voice nearly breaking Ana's heart. "Is that how you really see me?"

Ana, not Ann. Ninten was getting serious. Ana closed her eyes. She didn't want to hurt Ninten any more. He didn't deserve any of this.

But breaking his heart now would be better than forcing him to deal with the guilt of her death, wouldn't it?

"Yes," Ana said, her voice shaking. "That's _exactly_ how I see you."

Ninten's eyes flashed in realization.

 _Uh-oh,_ Ana thought.

"You're lying," Ninten said. "You just want me to hate you enough to let you die."

Yeah, basically.

"Ann," Ninten said, shaking his head. "The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You always work so hard to do what you think is best for me," Ninten said. "Even if you're more manipulative than I can believe, you still care." Ninten smiled. "It's one of the reasons that I always admired you."

Oh, psych. Ana didn't know how much longer she could take this without breaking down. Ninten chose her to admire out of everyone in the entire universe? He deserved a better role model.

"Even in what you believe to be your last moments," Ninten said, "You still try to help me in your own way. That's why it's so hard for me to let go."

Psych, psych, _psych._ Ninten was a hundred times harder to refuse in this state.

"Don't you see?" Ana said. "I only care about avoiding the guilt! Your emotions don't actually mean anything to me."

"And you think that other people are different?" Ninten said.

 _Wh… What?_

"Oh psych," Ninten said, shaking his head. "You honestly do. You think that we're all angels, and that when we help others its out of the complete goodness of our hearts."

 _Uh… it isnt?_

"We all help people because we like the control," Ninten said. "We like to feel like we're accomplishing something. We like the smiles we receive and the thanks that we humbly brush off. We like the feeling when everything just works out because of _us._ We like to be competent; we like to be needed. You're just one of the only people to realize where those altruistic feelings stem from."

"So we're all immoral," Ana said. "We all just fulfill our evolutionary role of helping the group and suck up the happy feelings that our brain gives us as a reward. We're all selfish. We're all control freaks."

"And so none of us are," Ninten said. "At least, that's one way to look at it. Your parents would probably disagree."

 _They would,_ Ana thought, _But maybe that's part of my problem. I always thought that they were pure while I was tainted. But nobody's perfect. We all act out of pride and vanity, even when we don't realize it._

"So you think that I'm actually a good person?" Ana said.

"About as good as we humans can get," Ninten said. "Now, do you really have to go?"

Ana gulped.

"I do," she said. "Even if you're right… I can't take this any longer. Ness is dead, and his killer is still roaming the streets, probably slaughtering people as we speak. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't try to stop him."

Ninten looked down at the concrete ground and nodded.

"I guessed as much," he said. "Please, don't throw away your life if you have a chance to live."

Ninten walked up and embraced Ana in a hug.

"Ninten!" Ana said. "I…"

"We're still friends, right?" Ninten said. "No matter what happens."

 _I can't promise that,_ Ana said. _Who knows what outside forces might tear our friendship apart?_

"I'll never forget this moment," Ana said. At least she could keep that promise, short of receiving amnesia.

"Thank you," Ninten said.

"I…" Ana cut herself off. "This feels so wrong. I should be the one comforting you. I need to be as strong as possible if I want to face Lucas."

"Needing someone isn't weak," Ninten said. "Ness was the strongest of us all, in his own way. Even though he died so young, I don't think he regretted anything." He looked into Ana's eyes. "And I'm sure that he was grateful to have you, Ann. From one look into his eyes, it was so easy to see how much he adored you."

 _He deserved someone better,_ Ana thought. _Someone whole._

Still, Ninten's words made her smile. Even if Ness did deserve someone better, she was glad to have helped him at all.

"I can't…" Ana said. "I couldn't be the person he wanted me to be, and I can't be the person you want me to be. I'm lesbian, remember?"

"Who said anything about romance?" Ninten said. "We're friends, and friends have each other's backs. No matter what happens to you, I'll be there if you need me."

 _Psych,_ Ana thought. _Why can't I be that loyal?_

No. For now, she would enjoy her last few moments with a friend. After a span of time that didn't feel nearly long enough, Ninten released Ana from his embrace.

"I'm willing to come with you," Ninten said. "I know that I'd probably just hold you back, but if you wanted me…"

Ana shook her head.

"I'd rather not worry about losing you," she said. "If I can hardly take care of myself, I don't think that I can manage you."

"I'm hurt," Ninten said, a grin popping up on his face. "You don't trust me to take care of myself?"

Ana rolled her eyes.

"I've known you too long to put much faith in your self-preservation skills."

"Ouch," Ninten said, although his grin only widened.

"I… guess I should go now," Ana said. "Ah, psych. The goodbye is ten times harder when you don't hate my guts."

"Harder, but hopefully better," Ninten said.

"Yeah," Ana said. "I guess it is."

They stood still, neither one talking for several seconds.

"Goodbye, I guess," Ana said. "I don't know what else to say."

"Just remember that I'm there for you," Ninten said. "Even if you pull ridiculously dangerous stunts and try your hardest to make me hate you. What can I say? I guess I'm just a 'bad girl' type."

The words sounded so out of place that Ana laughed, as Ninten had probably known she would. Psych, it felt good to let go of her fears and insecurities like this.

"And Ann?" Ninten said. "Remember what Ness died for."

 _He died for nothing,_ Ana thought. _Fiven vanished in a flash despite his efforts. Maybe that's what Ninten meant. I should try to prevent any more needless deaths, including my own._

"I never forget," Ana said. "Teleport."

As the world faded around her, Ninten waved one last goodbye.

* * *

After quick introductions, Lorraine teleported herself and Jeff onto a building high enough that it almost pierced the clouds. She didn't move her hands or speak an incantation, so Jeff assumed that she wasn't using psionics.

It was a good reminder. In these bubbles that existed between the physical universe and the psionic universe, thoughts alone could exert physical forces and influences.

Jeff looked around the building that he appeared on top of. Despite the high altitude, only a light breeze rippled past his cheeks. The ceiling that Jeff stood on, just as other buildings in Lorraine's realm, was made of multicolored stained glass. Fortunately for Jeff, the ceiling was completely flat, unlike many of the other buildings. Jeff peered over the edge. The clear road that snaked between buildings appeared only as a thin line. If Jeff hadn't known what to look for from seeing it up close, he probably wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"You teleported me up to such a high altitude," Jeff said. "So why…"

"Why isn't the air pressure or oxygen content an issue?" Lorraine finished. She smiled, looking into Jeff's eyes. "It looks like you have the answer worked out for yourself."

"It's because this world doesn't conform to physical laws, not completely," Jeff said. "Because someone thought about equalizing the air pressure at all altitudes, it turned into reality."

"Close," Lorraine said. "My thoughts created a _machine_ that regulates the air pressure up here. If I changed the air pressure with my thoughts, it would go back to its natural state after I stopped thinking about it."

 _This place continues to vex me,_ Jeff thought. _Will my logical mind be my downfall in this strange land?_

No. Jeff's willingness to question and think objectively got him this far. Even surreal worlds made some sort of sense. Jeff would work his way through every puzzle that presented itself, natural or no.

"Take a look at these," Lorraine said, walking up to a clear table on the rooftop. "This is how I see the outside world and record the information for the pillar to spout."

"Hmm?" Jeff said, walking up to a table.

"You can connect to it with your mind," Lorraine said. "Just tell it what you want to see. I programmed algorithms that usually gets it to show the right scene based on your thoughts."

"Easier to do in this realm when thoughts create reality, I would imagine," Jeff said.

Lorraine nodded.

"You can even send telepathic messages to people," Lorraine said.

"Is that how you got your messages to show up on my portocom?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah, but that's a bit tougher to do. I also conversed with the old president Minerva Carpainter. She didn't trust me, and because of that she ended up releasing Giygas and dying a couple years later."

 _Interesting,_ Jeff thought. _So you can create tools with mental power alone, and have those tools affect the physical world outside. It's like hacking your way into gaining psionic powers._

"After a few thousand years, I made a few adjustments to the entire scrying process of these tables," Lorraine said. "Most importantly, I planted a few of them within my brain, and I'm constantly scanning the outside world and recording what I see. That's how I managed to know _everything_ about you humans."

 _And she probably ships those records over to the physical Shard, which can't be tainted by others' thoughts,_ Jeff figured. _Clever indeed. I guess that's what 3000 years of experience will do._

"Because I can see what's happening in your world," Lorraine said. "I would highly recommend looking at where Ana is. Maybe you can get her to stop."

"Stop?" Jeff said, his heart skipping a beat. _Stop what?_

Look at the screen, dummy. Jeff turned to one of the clear tables, placing his hands on the cool glass and leaning forward.

 _All right,_ Jeff thought. _Let's test this whole "thinking creates reality" in this realm. Show me my friend Ana Aniah._

The tabletop rippled like a pond with a rock thrown in, eventually materializing into a scene that showed…

* * *

After a couple hours of searching the school, Ana found Tracy in a place where she should have looked first: her room. After she knocked and Tracy let her in, Ana looked at the paintings hanging up on the walls.

She gasped. Ness had painted every single one.

"Yeah, one of the students here gave them to me," Tracy said. "She thought Ness was still alive. It means more now that he's gone." She walked over to a painting depicting Ness' entire family, with his father still alive. "I always wanted a picture like this. Just our family together, actually enjoying each other's company. It never happened."

"I'm sorry," Ana said.

"Don't be. You've suffered a lot worse. Ness was closer to you than he was to me."

"How are you so sure?"

"Look around," Tracy said.

Ana scanned the walls of the room and saw that most of the paintings depicted her in some way. Besides one of his family, one of Pokey, and a couple miscellaneous paintings of Ceresian buildings and Earth sunsets, Ana stood at the forefront of Ness' paintings. In one, she was smirking and putting a foot on the blunt side of an axe while holding the handle in her right hand. Another showed her and Ness looking at ice cream cones. Ness ordered vanilla, as always, while Ana combined chocolate and strawberry.

"Oh, psych," Ana said. "He didn't even show me most of these."

"He was probably ashamed of them," Tracy said, rolling her eyes, "Even though they're beautiful. But even in his paintings, you can see how much he loved you. Thanks for taking care of my brother, Ana. And thanks for taking care of me."

 _Taking care of Ness?_ Ana thought. _As in letting him die?_

Ana knew that she had made Ness happier. Ana knew that he had gone into a dangerous situation and accepted the fact that he might not come out. But she couldn't rid herself of the voices in her mind that told her how weak and pathetic she was.

"I know that it's a touchy subject," Tracy said. "I'll stop, if you like."

"No," Ana said. "What we're doing… it's all about Ness, isn't it? Vengeance. Preventing others from meeting his fate. Whatever you want to call it. Ness' death is the reason that Lucas has to go."

"I swear," Tracy said, shaking her head, "That I saw more of him after death than in life. He visited me in my dreams, and any observant person could see how much he meant to your group. You all wandered around like headless chickens when he wasn't there to bring you all together." Tracy blushed. "No offense."

"It's true," Ana said. "He works his magic from beyond the grave. I think that his death made us recognize how aggressive we were. It made us recognize that we don't have to tear each other apart with swords and psionics. All of this is for him, Tracy. It's too late to create a universe that he can enjoy, so I can only hope to create a universe that will teach people to be more like him."

It was a silly goal, and Ana knew it. But for once, the mocking voices in Ana's head didn't speak. Tracy nodded along, as if Ana had said something enlightening rather than downright foolish.

"I'm going to kill Lucas," Tracy said. "I've been practicing my psionics as much as I can. I'm going rip his psyching heart out. After that, I can focus on what you're talking about."

Ana looked at the bags under Tracy's eyes. Oh, how she knew that feeling of constant exhaustion too well.

"I can't blame you," Ana said. "I want to tear his head off of his shoulders as well. Just think about it, Tracy. He killed thousands of people. Each one of them was probably somebody else's Ness. The number of bonds that he shattered just add a little picture to his mountain of gore."

"I can't care about anyone else," Tracy said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I can only care about Ness."

Ana nodded. She knew plenty of people like Tracy who didn't need to see the bigger picture to justify their actions, and she often admired them for it.

"It's not just because of Ness, too," Tracy said. "I hardly got to spend any real time with him. The Ness that I knew before he met you was just a hollow husk. I keep wondering if there was something I could have done to help him heal…"

"It wasn't your fault," Ana said. "None of this is."

Tracy sighed and shook her head.

"So are we going to fight Lucas now?" Tracy said. Her eyes flashed with anger. "I've been ready for days."

"Yeah," Ana said. "I have a pretty good idea of where he was not too long ago, so I can hopefully track him from there."

Tracy's eyes lit up.

"All right," Tracy said. "Time for justice to be served."

"That's the spirit." Ana smiled. "Just be careful, all right? There's no purpose in throwing your life away just because you're angry."

Tracy nodded, the determination in her eyes not wavering for a moment.

 _"Ana!"_ echoed a voice in her head. _"Please stop this now!"_

Unlike the voices in her head that mocked her and jeered her, this one sounded real. Ana probed with her psionic senses to see if someone used telepathy and found nothing.

 _Psych,_ Ana thought. _Am I actually going insane? I imagined that it would feel more… dramatic._

 _"You know that you can't win!"_ the voice echoed. _"You just told Tracy not to throw her life away; take the same advice yourself."_

Ana sighed. Even if she did die, perhaps it was for the best. She didn't want to become a burden to her friends, and insanity would likely turn her into a dependent. She resolved to let nobody know about this.

 _"Ana, it's Jeff! Please, just listen to what I have to say!"_

Jeff? Well, her mind had always been active and clever when it wanted to be. Perhaps this was part of a deep plot to plunge Ana into the deepest depths of insanity. If she started believing that voices in her head were real, what would come next?

"You ready to go?" Ana asked Tracy. "There's no turning back after this."

"I've come too far to turn back anyway," Tracy said. "I learned psionics just to kill Lucas. If I take away that, then my life doesn't mean _anything._ "

 _Just like me,_ Ana thought. _I became competent because that's what Minerva wanted. So even though I hated her guts, it was difficult to find a purpose after she died._

Ana grimaced. It had been more difficult still to find a purpose after _Ness_ died. If she turned her back on Lucas, she wouldn't have anything more to care about than Tracy did.

"All right," Ana said, her heart racing in her chest. "Teleport."

The voice in her head let out a groan.

* * *

 **So we got Fassad trying to hijack Mary's body like he did to Lucas in book 2. Ana and Tracy finally get the showdown that they've been preparing for. Things are going to keep heating up from here. :)**

 **Bubble:** This refers to areas between the physical and cognitive dimensions, where both actions and thoughts can create reality. So if I move a cup from one table to another, that still works because physical actions still constitute reality, but if there's enough thought power devoted to moving the cup it will move without physical forces because thoughts can also help make up reality in these worlds. The people outside these bubbles can also influence the reality of the world inside, which is why there were dinosaurs in the Lost Underworld (people on the outside in the jungle were thinking about them).


	37. Chapter 33: The Price of Revenge

_Why did Lorriane want to kill the Ancients? I can only think of one answer._

 _In the psionic realm, energy clumps together instead of spreading apart. In the real world, a fire warms up the surrounding area because the heat disperses. If such a fire existed in the cognitive plane, it would drain the surrounding area of its heat._

 _Thus when something in the cognitive realm is destroyed, it doesn't decompose or break apart into little pieces. Instead, it joins with another object._

 _When one of the ancients die, they join with Giygas. Their death just makes him stronger._

 _Which leads me to my next conclusion…_

* * *

"No!" Jeff said, slamming his fists on the table. "Ana, why aren't you listening?"

"It happens," Lorraine said. "Just because someone can hear you does not mean that they will believe. Humans and Osohe alike notice astonishing little unless someone thrusts information right in front of their face. If a person can ignore something, they _will_ ignore something."

"Ana…" Jeff said. "Oh, psych, I'm never going to see her again. There's no way that she can survive against psyching Lucas."

"Who knows?" Lorraine said with a shrug. "This may be the time for miracles."

"Do you have something planned?"

Lorraine sighed. She looked around at the green landscape below, switching her gaze from one dot of colorful crystal to another.

"Well?" Jeff said.

"I don't," Lorraine said, "But there are always forces beyond our control. We exist in a universe of chaos, Jeff, and that's not a bad thing. If Giygas could truly condense our hearts into data, he would have taken over the universe long ago."

 _I don't know,_ Jeff thought. _It doesn't take a genius to figure out that effects always stem from a cause. No "miracle" will save Ana today._

"You don't believe," Lorraine said, flashing a motherly smile. "One day, you will."

"And how can you predict that, if you're so confident that nothing can be predicted?" Jeff said.

"Ah, it's hard to find a way past your logic," Lorraine said, smiling with her eyes rather than her mouth. "But the world is not ruled by logic. Feelings are never wrong, Jeff. They stem from your heart, and your heart knows what is best for you."

 _Really?_ Jeff thought. _Feelings are never wrong?_

"That sounds like something General Kim would have said." Jeff stared Lorraine down. "I can hear him now. He told Ana that his heart commanded him to murder and pillage, and since his heart was never wrong…"

"Those weren't true feelings," Lorraine said. "Kim was deceiving himself."

 _That's so easy for you to say,_ Jeff thought. _But which feelings are true and which are false? Everyone thinks that they know how to decide but can anyone really?_

"It is fine that you disagree," Lorraine said. "One day, you will see the wisdom in my words."

"Wisdom is relative, subjective," Jeff said. "There are no measurements. Different 'wise' proverbs appeal to different people. People use the word to bypass proof and assume that a statement is right, but the universe doesn't always work that way."

"You dig yourself into a ditch by thinking too much," Lorraine said. "Just look at Ana. She rationalizes everything because she doesn't trust her feelings enough. She always sides with her fear and guilt, but she crafts up alternate stories for why she acts a certain way. She's fighting Lucas because she wants to die, but she tells the world that she wishes for justice and noble revenge."

"It's true that logic often has holes," Jeff said. "But that is the fault of the person wielding the logic and not logic itself. Just you wait. The right reasoning may get her out of this situation."

"We'll see," Lorraine said with a knowing smile.

* * *

 _I just let her go,_ Ninten thought. _I let Ana teleport away straight to her doom._

How could Ninten explain that decision to someone else? How could Ninten explain that decision to _himself?_

It didn't take long until he got the chance.

Ninten walked into the area where the Dalaamians and Ceresians set up camp. The buildings didn't look fancy like in the upper districts of Ceres, but at least they didn't look like slum houses. Sturdy, well-built buildings made of wood and stone lined either side of the streets.

Ninten smiled. He had gotten so used to destruction and despair that he forgot how good it felt to walk down a well-adjusted road and see working buildings and working people wherever his gaze wandered.

Before he could take in the atmosphere any more, Poo and Venus approached him. Ninten could hardly picture the woman in front of him wearing the Ceresian psion's robe as the same person who wore sparkling outfits as she sang on stage.

"Poo said that Ana was looking for you," Venus said. "Did you happen to see her?"

Another difference. Venus the singer usually appeared vapid, almost lifeless. Her empty smiles and hollow gazes on the television screen frustrated Ninten to no end. Here, Ninten could make out signs of sincere concern in her expression: a splash of color in her cheeks, her eyes narrowing to form a slight squint, her stiff posture… Ninten could have gone on all day, but he figured that he should probably answer her question.

"I did," Ninten said. "She wanted to kill Lucas."

Poo and Venus exchanged a glance. Poo's expression remained neutral, but Venus' haughty look clearly stated "I told you so."

"I didn't expect Ana to act so… reckless," Poo said. "Is that a cultural thing with you Americans?"

"Maybe, but I don't think that's why."

"And you stopped her?" Venus said.

"How could I?" Ninten asked. "She knows how to teleport."

"You didn't even try _?_ " Venus buried her face in her hands. "Ah, psych. All of you teenagers are idiots."

"She wouldn't have listened," Ninten said. "She's damn stubborn when she wants to be, which is pretty much always. She forced me to play her game, and I played it as well as I could."

"Meaning…?" Poo said, raising an eyebrow.

"She wanted to die," Ninten said. "I tried to cheer her up. Do what little I can. Maybe she'll run away if she has a reason to live."

"I can see that," Poo said. "I hope it works."

"Not good enough," Venus said. "Someone let Lucas' location slip and she'll be over there now. I need to haul her ass back over here so that she doesn't die to the edge of his stained glass sword."

"You're needed here," Poo said. "Who will command the Ceresians if you leave to chase Ana? You don't even know exactly where she is."

"I know enough," Venus said, her eyes daring Poo to challenge the claim. "I'll leave someone else in charge, but you're pretty much controlling my group to begin with."

"You've always been free to do what you want," Poo said, glaring back at Venus.

"Yes, but we'd be morons to leave your protection like Ana did. Psych."

"It's war," Poo said. "People die. She made her choices."

"You're cold, you know that?" Venus said.

"We should save people who want it," Ninten said. "I trust Ana to make it out of this one."

Venus snarled, baring her teeth at Ninten like a wolf.

"Fine, you go ahead and do that. Chase the dead end that Poo wants to embark on. But I'm going to be out there helping people until I croak my last!"

Venus muttered something under her breath and vanished moments later.

"No point in chasing after her," Poo said. "Let us hope that she succeeds in her mission. I would love to see Ana arrive back safely."

"She was right, though," Ninten said. "You have gotten a bit cold."

Poo sighed.

"It hurts more coming from you," he said.

"You don't look hurt."

"That's the point." Poo shook his head. "Leaders are supposed to care, but only in specific ways."

"So your calmness is an act."

Poo nodded.

"You're just like Ana," Ninten said. "Hiding your true self."

"I admit that I am sensitive and insecure," Poo said. "I just need my people to trust in me. I suppose that it became a habit." Poo smiled. "I still remember how you accepted me and wanted to be friends when we first went to Ceres, Ninten. You wanted the universe to see you as someone rough and wild, but you couldn't let your kindness stay hidden for long."

 _Kindness?_ Ninten thought. _That's a strange word to describe my actions._

"It helped me," Poo said. "When I was alone in those dark nights, I thought about your words and how they made me feel. I pulled you closer to me than you probably realized."

 _Just like… Paula._

Ninten's stomach heaved.

"But we shouldn't stand around talking," Poo said. "Have you noticed that the starmen didn't really attack us since we landed here?"

"Yeah, but they didn't attack us before, either. I think they were just waiting for us to kill each other."

"I found another potential reason," Poo said. "Most of my Mu users use telepathy quite effectively, since they use it routinely to speak with their ancestors. They read the minds of a few stray starmen and saw that all of them were thinking about the Shard of Ceres."

"What about the Shard?" Ninten said.

"Have you ever tried to comprehend starman thoughts? It sounds easy, but the way that they think is fundamentally different from the way that we think. The Mu sages described it as some sort of seal breaking within the Shard."

The hairs on the back of Ninten's neck stood up. A seal that led to what?

"I know," Poo said. "It doesn't sound good, especially if the starmen are after it. We think that they're heading towards the Shard."

"And you want to intercept them?"

"Precisely. We teleport everyone over to the Shard and stop the starmen from messing with the broken seal."

"I have to agree with Venus on this one," Ninten said. "I don't know that we can assume that the Shard is actually important."

Poo nodded, taking off in a walk down the street and motioning for Ninten to follow. The casual way that he commanded and expected to be obeyed made Ninten pause for a moment.

 _He's still the same person,_ Ninten told himself. _The same person in a different situation._

Ninten jogged to catch up with Poo. The Dalaamian King furrowed his eyebrows and muttered something to himself.

"Hm?" Ninten said.

"I value your input highly," Poo said without missing a beat, "And I see your point. Giygas may have a trap set for us. However, we do not have much to lose by teleporting to the Shard. We accomplish little by staying here."

"Oh, I see."

"But because of that, it makes me wonder if Giygas realizes our situation and seeks to lead us astray. I propose that we take a few psionics-users and scout the area. I'm coming, of course."

"You? But if you die…"

"I rule Dalaam in name only," Poo said. "Most of the nobles in Yazhou would probably cheer if I died in war. When Kim instated me as king…" Poo smiled. "It didn't exactly go over well."

"Well, I still don't think that you should come, but since I let Ana warp into a far more dangerous situation, I won't put up any more of a resistance."

"I also want you and Claus to come with me," Poo said. "I don't trust my own forces, not like I trust you."

"Why not?"

"They're tired." Poo shrugged. "And can you blame them? They fight for a cause that is not their own. It would be so easy for them to abandon me to the starmen. I die as a hero and then they elect a new war leader who pulls out and lets Ceres defend for itself."

"All right," Ninten said. "I'll ask Claus about it."

Poo's posture relaxed, a smile coming to his face.

"Thanks, Ninten," he said. "It's been tough travelling without ever letting my guard down. I'll probably feel safer to be away from them, even if we're fighting starmen."

"Funny how that works, isn't it?" Ninten asked with a grin.

 _All right, Boras,_ Ninten thought. _You still haunt me in my dreams. I'll make sure to fight because I care rather than because I'm too scared of the alternative. If Poo's able to bring peace between Dalaam and Ceres, we may save this universe yet._

Ninten whistled as he walked off to find Claus. Funny how the alien apocalypse could put him in such a good mood.

* * *

Ana walked into a silent street. Psionic residue from Lucas' sword lined a few corpses in the area, which cast them in a dull glow to Ana's senses. Some buildings lay toppled or in ruins, but most of them looked just fine. Stores with signs displaying children's toys and fresh produce lined either side of the street.

Every single one was empty.

Tracy sucked in a breath, likely taking in the ghostlike atmosphere for herself. Ana saw the blood drain from her face as Tracy clenched her hands into fists. After a moment, Tracy's eyes blazed with passion. Ana knew better than to question Tracy's resolve.

"I fought a battle nearby," Ana said. "Ninten said that Lucas was lurking around, so we should find him before long."

Tracy gulped and nodded.

"Keep your psionic senses ready, all right?" Ana said. "We don't want him sneaking up on us."

"I'm not scared of him jumping out," Tracy said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Really, you don't need to worry about me."

"Lucas getting a surprise attack would mean that he gets a chance to break our psionic defenses," Ana said. "I've seen him fight before. We'll need every advantage we can get."

"Oh."

"It's okay to be weak, Tracy. I'm here for you." Ana forced a smile. "Man, this place feels deserted. I'm honestly not sure if we're in some sort of ghost town."

Tracy smiled back, but Ana could tell that her heart wasn't in it. They both knew that Lucas was nearby and he created this emptiness around them. Ana couldn't tell if this street actually smelled like a dust-ridden ghost town or if her mind was playing tricks on her.

"He can't be far," Tracy said. "Well, he might be. You said that he was here a few hours ago, right?"

 _That's true,_ Ana thought. _Maybe he left this area entirely._

 _"Yes,"_ a voice in Ana's head told her. _"You have no idea what you're doing. Turn back while you can."_

Ana frowned. She hoped that these strange voices in her head wouldn't interfere while she fought Lucas.

"Is something wrong?" Tracy asked.

"Nope." _Other than everything._ "Since I don't know which direction he went after wiping this place clean of life, I guess we'll just walk in a random direction and see if we can detect his aura?"

"Sure," Tracy said. "I don't have any better ideas."

Ana and Tracy walked down the street, passing more corpses with glassy eyes and psionic residue. Every one of them died from a clean cut or stab. In a sick way, it almost looked exquisite, calm. It was as if Lucas funneled every bit of artistic talent in killing gracefully.

Tracy gagged each time she came close to a corpse.

"How do you manage?" Tracy asked, her face pale. "When I see the bodies, I just want to throw up."

"You get used to it," Ana said. "Not the danger, not the paranoia, and certainly not the stress. But you get used to the death."

"Did Ness see worse than this?" Tracy asked, her voice hardly more than a whisper.

"Honestly? Yes. He saw far worse."

"How did he manage?" Tracy shook her head. "He always struck me as the type to actually barf when he sees this stuff."

"I think he did," Ana said. "And he locked himself in his room for weeks because the pain tormented him so much. But he didn't let it stop him."

The surprise in Tracy's eyes told Ana all that she needed to know, that Tracy had never seen the determined side of her brother.

"I wish that I could have just five more minutes with him," Tracy said. "I never got to say sorry for all of the stupid things I said. I never got to thank him for all of the little things he did. I…" Tracy hugged her arms. "I always loved him. In those years after dad died, I just wanted the old Ness back. And now I'll never get the chance to see him again."

 _You were so close…_ Ana thought. _If you had known the Ness that I saw every day, I think that you would have been happy._

That realization made Ana want to punch something.

"Wait," Tracy said. "What's over there?"

Ana probed outwards with her psionic senses and noticed a psionic-user's aura approaching them at a rapid speed.

"Is it Lucas?" Tracy asked.

"Too far to tell," Ana said. "Once the psion gets closer, I'll be able to tell."

"Give me an honest answer," Tracy said, looking Ana in the eye. "How likely are we to beat him?"

An honest answer? Oh, psych.

"Low enough that I don't want to think about it," Ana said, "But high enough that I'm not ready to give up."

Tracy nodded.

"That's about what I expected, from what I've heard," she said. "Hopefully you won't have to tell my mom that she lost both of her children."

Tracy's words hit Ana like an arrow to the chest. How could she _possibly_ tell Linda something like that?

"No," Ana said. "If it looks like we can't win, we're going to bail."

"But-"

"It's my job to protect you," Ana said. "If I tell you to run, you have to _run._ Got it?"

Tracy shot her an icy stare.

"If you don't agree, I'm teleporting you out right this second."

"Fine," Tracy said. "But we need to keep trying until we kill him."

"I don't know that I can make that promise." Ana reached out with her psionic senses a second time. "Yeah, that's definitely Lucas."

As she looked out down the street, she could see the boy with the helmet sprinting at full speed towards Tracy and Ana. With the rate that his psionic aura had approached hers when she first detected it…

"He's been sprinting all this way," Ana said. "He doesn't even think that he needs his full energy to beat us."

"Well, let's show him wrong," Tracy said. "What's the plan?"

Ana summoned an axe made out of transparent, green ectoplasm. She held it in both hands, tilting it back and forth to make sure that the weight felt comfortable.

"I'll get in close," Ana said. "You fire psionics from further away. We'll want a closed space where he can't run circles around us."

"What about that alley over there?" Tracy asked, pointing to a thin opening in the side of the street that looked like a dark slit along the wall of stone buildings.

"Perfect," Ana said. "Don't bother trying to mess with his mind directly; his aura will resist anything you throw at it. Just shoot beams or try to freeze an arm off."

 _But if he fights like he did on Vulcan,_ Ana thought, _Then he'll summon anti-psionics armor the exact moment that he needs it. If so, we're probably fucked._

By then, Ana could see Lucas clearly enough to make out his features. He held his famous stained glass sword in his hands, the blade glistening in the light of the Ceresian sun. When he spotted Ana, his sprint slowed to a jog and he tilted his head slightly.

"Lucas," Ana said. "A part of me hoped that we wouldn't have to face off like this. A part of me hoped that you didn't kill Ness. But you're a savant again, aren't you? You probably don't even remember killing him."

"Ness?" Lucas said, his voice monotone. "I remember…" Lucas grimaced. "I recognize you. I shouldn't know you, but I do. I remember that you never trusted me. I remember thinking that you were right. I should have died long ago. Too bad for you that I'm still alive."

"He's so creepy," Tracy said, taking a step back.

"Into the alley, now," Ana said, trying her hardest not to shout.

Tracy nodded and ducked into the backstreet. Ana followed, and immediately the stench of garbage washed over her. Lovely. Well, if it would help save her or Tracy's life, Ana would take in the smell of trash without complaint.

"It does not matter if you run, hide, or try to gain optimal terrain," Lucas said. "Well, you could run away by teleporting. For once, I'm tempted to let you go."

"He's toying with us," Tracy hissed.

 _I'm not sure that's it. If he actually remembers me…_

"But since you're not going to leave now…" Lucas sprinted towards the alley. "Brace yourselves."

Ana barely managed to raise her axe in time to block the first stroke of Lucas' stained-glass sword. The blade changed colors frequently, each pattern just as beautiful and harmonious as the last. Colors flowed together smoothly and contrasted for effect. Ana blinked, scolding herself for focusing on Lucas' sword when she should be thinking about his next move.

Lucas' sword became a blur, whipping around and managing to attack Ana from angles she didn't think were possible in the cramped alleyway. Each hit that Ana took removed a chunk of her psionic aura. Even as Ana struggled to heal herself, Lucas' face remained neutral. His lips formed a straight line, neither a smile nor frown shining through. Each muscle tensed only when needed, leading him to look neither strung nor relaxed.

With such brutal efficiency, he was dead inside.

Ana wouldn't let herself lose to someone like this.

She let out a scream as she swung her axe towards Lucas. He blocked the attack with minimal effort, and armor appeared over his chest right before Tracy used PK Freeze in that exact location. Lucas swung his blade at her head, missing Ana by a hair's width.

"You're not nearly as good," Ana said. "Giygas couldn't recreate in a few weeks what Minerva Carpainter did in a few years."

"Quiet!" Lucas said. "I am perfect, minus a few malfunctions."

Ana could tell that Lucas believed those words. Ana could tell that Lucas was trying to find his state of empty calm.

It didn't make the truth any harder to glimpse.

"You actually remember me," Ana said. "It's Ness, isn't it? That's why your form is sloppy."

Tracy slung more laser beams and fireballs at Lucas, which he blocked by summoning chunks of armor with perfect timing. Lucas ran his sword through Ana's chest, nearly killing her outright. Ana gasped in surprise more than pain. How did Lucas managed to deal more damage with one thrust of his sword than any other people could do with a dozen?

"Not sloppy enough," Lucas said.

"Lifeup," Ana said, barely manifesting the power before raising her axe to parry Lucas' next attack.

"Ana!" Tracy said, panic rising in her voice. "I don't know if we can win this one!"

Considering that Ana and Tracy hadn't landed a single hit on Lucas… well, Ana didn't like their chances. Even though Lucas was weaker than Ana expected, he wasn't as weak as she hoped. After Lucas landed a round of minor blows that forced her to heal again, Ana knew that she couldn't keep on fighting. Her energy was already starting to run low from all of the healing.

But how could Ana run? If she tried to manifest teleportation psionics, Lucas could interrupt it by slashing one of her arms that was required to make hand motions. A ray of hope entered Ana's heart when she remembered that Lucas hadn't attempted to interrupt any of her healing psionics, but it took more time to manifest a teleportation power. Even novice warriors could usually interrupt a teleporting psion if given proper notice, and Ana didn't think that she could hide the manifestation of a teleport from Lucas. He would know the signs to look for.

So what could Ana do? She thought about that question at length as Lucas forced her further and further back into the alley. Tracy slowed his advances by shooting lasers and throwing nearby objects at Lucas with telekinesis, but Ana knew that they were losing in basically every possible way. After a few more parries and dodges, Ana's arms and legs started to ache. Her lungs became bricks of fire in her chest.

She couldn't keep this up for much longer.

 _"Run away to the other end of the alley,"_ the voice in her head spoke. _"An ally is on her way to save you."_

Well, Ana knew better than to trust random voices that popped up in her head. But, she realized as she blocked another one of Lucas' attacks, she didn't have much to lose.

Besides, the voice told her that it was Jeff, right? Maybe he lost his portocom and invented a device that could send telepathic messages instead. Ana honestly wouldn't put it behind him.

 _All right,_ Ana thought. _It's time to take a leap of faith. The choice is easier when I'm already teetering over the edge of the abyss._

"Tracy, run!" Ana shouted.

"I'm not leaving-"

Ana gasped, barely finding enough air to shout once more.

"I said _run!_ "

Before waiting for Tracy's response, Ana turned around and sprinted away. It only took a moment before Tracy's eyes widened and she started running so that Ana wouldn't crash into her.

"PK Fire!" Tracy shouted, creating a row of flames right behind Ana.

Ana didn't bother to see if the fire slowed Lucas down. She wheezed and gulped mouthfuls of air as her muscles burned. Ana forced herself not to slow down her pace, even if she felt like she couldn't take another step.

 _This is just like my training sessions with Minerva where she pushed me too far,_ Ana thought. _I can't psyching do it!_

Great. As if she needed her memories to muscle in on her sense of danger. Ana reached out with her psionic senses and focused on the position of Lucas aura. While she couldn't see or hear him well, she could sense his location like a dot on a radar screen. The dot marking Lucas' position came closer, closer… Ana's heart leapt. Tracy fired off more bolts of energy and summoned flames from the ground, which slowed Lucas down.

Eventually, Ana sensed another psionic aura besides Tracy's and Lucas' at the end of the alley. The realization pushed her body into overdrive; she managed to pick up speed even though she feared that she would physically rip her muscles apart.

 _"See?"_ said the voice in her head. _"You're not insane and I'm not lying."_

Ana smiled.

 _Thanks, Jeff._

Ana and Tracy flew out of the alley into another main street. The shift from a shaded back street to a major road beneath the Ceresian sun nearly blinded Ana; she blinked a few times and adjusted to the light with a few red spots lingering in her vision.

Ana looked towards the other psionic aura that she detected earlier, spotting Venus wearing Ceresian psion's robes.

"Ectoplasmic wall," Venus said, putting up a green barrier to block the exit to the alley.

Lucas crashed into the wall, but he even managed to look graceful doing _that._ He jumped up before hitting the wall, tensing his muscles as he flew towards the barrier and then springing off the wall without a sound and landing on his feet about a body length away.

"I told you that I wouldn't let you die in such a stupid way, didn't I?" Venus asked. "Let's get out of here."

"No!" Tracy said. "With you here… we can…" Tracy gasped for air, nearly toppling over.

Lucas jogged up to the wall and cut a hole in it with his stained glass sword large enough for a human to fit through. Lucas' gaze turned to Venus, his face as expressionless as ever.

"Psych," Venus said. "That's one hell of a creeper."

Lucas ran towards Venus.

"Polymorph!" Venus shouted, sprouting scales and growing in size.

In a matter of moments, Venus turned from a human into a scaled creature with long claws made of hardened, green ectoplasm. She carried the face of a wolf and the body of a giant human, yet the scales made her look like a lizard.

Lucas slashed at Venus, but his sword bounced off of her scales without even chipping them. Venus lunged at Lucas with her meter-long claws, but the boy with the stained glass sword managed to dart out of the way the moment before Venus' claws would have gored him.

 _"Run!"_ Venus said telepathically. _"Escape while you can!"_

Ana grimaced. Could she really leave Venus behind?

 _"I'll be fine,"_ Venus transmitted. _"Get the psych out of here, or this will all be in vain!"_

Ana turned towards Tracy, the two girls locking eyes. Ana would have bet anything that Venus said the exact same words to Tracy.

"We're not abandoning you," Tracy said. "PK Freeze!"

A barrier appeared around Lucas' head right before ice sprouted on top of it. Lucas dismissed the barrier and the ice fell to the ground. A moment later and his head would have been frozen instead.

 _"Go,"_ Venus transmitted. _"I'm warning you…"_

Lucas darted to the side as Venus lunged at him again, running towards Ana. Venus tried to adjust her aim to swipe Lucas as he darted past her, but her claws only caught air. Ana froze in place. What could she possibly do against a force like this?

Unbidden, memories flashed in Ana's mind. She was back on Vulcan again, watching Lucas spin his sword so quickly that it became a blur, slicing through seasoned psions without breaking a sweat. The sound of his sword slicing through air and flesh created a song of death. Lucas became a whirlwind, slashing psions left and right as they tried to flee.

Ana's heart skipped a beat as she returned to the present. Lucas wasn't a person; he was a force of nature. No matter how much Ana tried, she could never hope to beat him.

 _I don't have enough time to teleport,_ Ana realized as Lucas charged closer. _I need to put up some sort of defense or he'll end me with a couple of slashes._

Time seemed to slow. Lucas floated in air, caught in the middle of a stride. A flurry of thoughts rushed into Ana's head. She was too tired to put up a fight in hand to hand combat, which left only psionics to save her. Teleporting would take too long, and Lucas could likely break through any barriers that she crafted.

Only one choice remained: offense. She needed psionics more powerful than what Tracy had slung at Lucas throughout the fight, something that would bring him to his knees.

Was such a feat truly possible?

No time to question. Ana called on every last ounce of psionic energy in her body.

"PK Hurricane!" Ana shouted.

Gusts of wind rushed past Ana, sending her robes flapping in all directions. A massive twister descended from the sky, landing straight on top of Lucas. Nearby signs and crossroad markers flew into the twister along with small stones and other debris. Lucas stood in the eye of the storm, calmly regarding Ana as his clothes flapped along with the wind.

 _Make a move,_ Ana thought. _I psyching dare you._

The wind howled, almost as if in pain. Ana gritted her teeth, trying to keep the hurricane active. She moved it slightly to force Lucas out of the eye and into the raging storm.

The wind battered Lucas, aided by raw psionic power. Lucas put up shiny, green armor around his body but still struggled to move through the storm. Venus roared and barreled towards Lucas with claws extended.

Lucas' helmet flew off his head. He looked just like his brother Claus, but his features were soft and smooth while Claus' were hard and worn. He locked eyes with Ana for a split second, and Ana caught a glimpse of sorrow.

Lucas tore his gaze away from Ana. He leapt through the twister, somehow disregarding the force of the battering wind. Ana cried out as Lucas charged forward and moved the twister closer to her for protection. She realized a moment too late that Lucas wasn't running towards Ana.

Sword extended outward, he charged towards Tracy.

"No!" Ana shouted, but the wind from her hurricane prevented even her from hearing the word. "Tracy!"

Tracy mouthed something and a pair of lightning bolts fell from the sky, missing Lucas by inches. She scrambled backwards and tried to run away. Divine rulers, the fear in her eyes…

"Don't you dare touch her!" Ana shouted. Again, she couldn't even hear her own voice over the wind.

Venus continued to run forward, but she didn't gain on Lucas quickly enough.

 _No,_ Ana thought. _Come on, there has to be something I can do…_

Tracy stumbled and nearly tripped over a rock. Lucas closed in.

 _Please?_

Ana guided the hurricane towards Lucas, but she knew that it wouldn't arrive to save Tracy in time.

 _If someone's actually out there, watching over us, now would be the time to help._

Ana nearly laughed at her own desperation. Even if an almighty deity existed, why would it save Tracy when it let thousands of others die on the edge of Lucas' blade?

Lucas caught up to Tracy, tripping her and sending her sprawling on the street. He raised his sword above his head to deliver the final blow.

Ana checked her psionic stores. Nothing. Even if she could come up with a last-ditch plan to save Tracy, she wouldn't have the psionic energy to pull it off.

 _If there's a time for miracles, now would be it,_ Ana thought.

Lucas sliced downwards with his stained glass sword. Ana froze, unable to fully process the scene in front of her. This couldn't be real. It just _couldn't._

The moment before Lucas' blade would have collided with Tracy's skull, Venus teleported in front of Tracy and blocked the attack with one of her scaled legs. Lucas' sword bounced off and Venus flashed a toothy grin.

 _Thank you thank you thank-_

Ana ran towards Venus, guiding her hurricane forward for assistance. Lucas swung at Venus again, this time stabbing her in the chest. Once again, the scales blocked the sword, despite its psionic enchantments.

Tracy tried to scramble out of the way, firing a laser at Lucas for good measure. A piece of armor appeared over Lucas' leg to block Tracy's attack.

"Invincible," Lucas said, his sword still touching Venus' chest scales. "Is that what you think you are? I hate to inform you that there's always a more powerful material."

Lucas' sword blazed with color, its normally mild reds turning the color of blood and its normally lush greens turning as bright as neon. After a moment, Lucas' sword radiated light of all colors. Ana could see the pain twisted on his face.

"Wha…" Venus said.

Lucas drove his sword into Venus' chest, breaking through the scales. He pushed the sword further and further in until the hilt touched Venus chest and most of the sword stuck out through her back, dripping with blood. The sword vanished from Lucas' hands.

Venus clutched the wound over her chest. Normally, a psion's aura patched the body up from even lethal attacks, but Lucas' blade was powerful enough to leave serious wounds with a single stroke. Blood poured out of Venus' wound, running down the front of her stomach. Venus let out a wet cough and stumbled out of the way.

Lucas turned his attention back to Tracy.

 _No,_ Ana thought. _Not after all of this…_

Tracy scrambled to her feet, looking at Lucas in a mixture of awe and terror. Ana moved her hurricane closer to Lucas. It was almost there…

Lucas took Tracy's head off with a single stroke.

Ana let go of her concentration from surprise, and her hurricane faded into thin air. Tracy's head rolled on the ground, her eyes wide open and her mouth frozen in the middle of a scream. For a moment, nobody made a sound.

 _"Psych,"_ Venus sent telepathically. _"Couldn't…"_

Lucas walked over and stabbed Venus in the stomach. His sword lit up again right before entering Venus' flesh. Venus gasped, her expression frozen in pain. After a moment, she slumped over on Lucas' sword.

"Polymorph," Venus said, her guttural voice so deep that Ana barely recognized it.

Venus turned back into a human, but she didn't look like the Venus that Ana recognized. This woman had brown hair, hazel eyes, and a nose that was slightly too large compared to the rest of her facial features. While Venus had represented the pinnacle of beauty, this woman looked like she could blend into any crowd without notice.

 _This must be Venus' real body,_ Ana thought. _She looks so… normal._

"Sorry, Ana," Venus said, flashing a smile. "I couldn't… keep my promise."

Lucas stabbed Venus a third time.

"Please…" Venus said. "You can't escape yourself, Ana. Even when I was a beautiful pop singer, I was still pathetic old _me._ I needed… to tell you that before…"

Venus' eyes went glassy after the fourth stab. She fell limp and crumpled to the ground.

 _Venus…_ Ana thought. _Erine Monotoli… Why did you care about us so much? Why would you risk your own life to save two silly girls?_

Lucas looked over at Ana and hesitated.

 _She shouldn't have wasted her time,_ Ana thought. _This was all so stupid. We deserved to die. Well, Tracy didn't know any better, but I did. If I hadn't gone after Lucas… If I hadn't summoned the hurricane that made Lucas chase after Tracy… You might still be alive, Venus._

Once again, everything was _her_ fault.

Yet this time, she was too angry to care.

"Lucas," Ana said, her voice dangerously quiet. "You've just made a grave mistake."

Lucas dashed forward towards Ana. While she normally denied the rage, this time she let it flow through her. Blood pounded in her ears. She could hear her heart sizzling. Ana drew on the last bit of strength that she didn't know that she had.

Yes, _this_ was what she lived for. She never felt so alive when wanting to tear someone's head off of their shoulders.

As Lucas swung his sword in a low sweep, Ana parried the attack and looked Lucas in the eye.

"You see," Ana said. "Now I have nothing left to lose."

* * *

 **Ah yes, one of my cliffhangers. And if you've read this far you probably know by now that I really don't have a problem with killing off characters. Venus in particular ended up being a much larger character than I anticipated, though, and I wanted to give her a final hurrah here.**

 **Let's see if Ana can make their sacrifices worth something.**

 **Psionic Aura:** Defensive aura that surrounds psions, similar to the HP mechanic from EarthBound games. Regular people get killed by normal attacks (being shot/stabbed, ect.), but psions deplete their aura and lose the equivalent of HP instead. So you'll see most characters taking hits like they do in Earthbound and healing back up. Jeff, having no PSI, was previously as fragile as a regular person but has since crafted armor to give him the same sort of HP aura.

 **Psionic Stall:** Psions have the ability to slow down their metabolisms and delay damage that they take, so the damage "ticks down" instead of happening all that once. This is the equivalent of how HP meters tick down in EarthBound and Mother 3, and how characters can heal and survive after taking lethal attacks. Psions can do so in this world too, making them difficult to kill. However, a few known attacks can pierce this psionic stall and kill psions outright. Notably, Lucas' sword can kill psions through this psionic stall, making him much more dangerous than most people with weapon-based attacks. This is only possible because of psionic stall.

 **Manifesting hand motions:** All psychic powers require hand motions to activate, and by restraining a psion's hands one can prevent them from using any PSI. This is why Ana didn't teleport away. Teleportation requires complicated hand motions which Lucas could interrupt easily, cancelling the teleportation ability. Ana didn't want to waste her time when she was already taking so much damage.


	38. Chapter 34: Soulknife

_Lorraine knew that the Ancients merely fuse with Giygas and add to his strength when they die. She wouldn't want that any more than we do._

 _She must have found some way to get the dead ancients to fuse with her instead. She's trying to become as powerful as Giygas himself._

* * *

Ninten appeared in front of the Shard of Ceres to see a field of dead starmen with arrows sticking through their heads. Starman corpses smelled different than humans, but the tangy scent of starman death was a sickly sweet one that nearly made Ninten gag.

"Psych," Claus said. "Looks like someone got here before we did."

"Archers, no less," Poo said, kneeling down and examining one of the starman corpses. "I don't see any missed arrows. Someone must have gathered up the stray arrows, meaning that they probably shot these starmen a while ago."

"Either that or the archer who did this never misses a shot," came a voice from behind Ninten.

"Diana," Claus said, not even bothering to turn around. "You always seem to show up at the most random times."

Ninten turned around to see Diana smiling. She carried the same strong jawline and wiry frame as Minerva, yet the twinkle in her eye shone brighter than her sister's expression ever had.

"Ah," Poo said. "I don't believe we've ever met. You're somewhat of a legend here on Ceres, though."

"It's why I don't show my face more often. Not that I can blame Ceres for wanting me dead after I killed thousands for a cult."

Poo nodded. No time to gawk, Ninten supposed.

"Kumatora went into the Shard after the seal broke," Diana said. "Told me something about finding her mother. I think that some of the starmen got in."

 _Kumatora…_ Ninten thought with a sigh of relief. _I guess that starman didn't kill her after all._

Thinking of Kumatora reminded Ninten of Darius. He teleported himself away individually instead of following Poo's group as they fled from Lucas, Ninten assumed. What was he doing now?

"Well, good thing that they can't teleport directly into the Shard," Claus said. "We can just guard the entrance, right?"

"Right," Diana said. After a moment, her eyes narrowed. "I sense another wave. I assume that you can all handle yourselves?"

"We wouldn't have come here otherwise," Poo said.

Diana nocked an arrow, holding it by her ear. Ninten didn't know how she managed to hold the arrow steady; he remembered trying to learn archery a couple years ago and his arm got exhausted if he tried to hold the arrow nocked for more than a moment.

Diana loosed the arrow. It soared through the air, towards an empty tree.

An army of starman appeared while the arrow was in mid-flight. The arrow punched through one of the starmen's heads.

"Let's go," Diana said. "They'll fire lasers from afar, so either shoot back or move in."

Ninten nodded and exchanged a glance with Claus.

"Shall we charge in for old times' sakes?" Ninten asked.

"That sounds like a plan for me," Claus said, unsheathing his sword.

* * *

Jeff watched Tracy's and Venus' lifeless bodies on the table-screen in front of him. It took him a couple seconds to realize that his hands were clenched into fists. Ana stood and raised her axe, prepared to meet Lucas' charge.

"Divine Rulers," Jeff said. " _This_ is what happens when you challenge a psionic savant, Ana."

Immediately, Jeff issued a mental command for the screen not to send those particular words to Ana.

"The girl has some fight left in her," Lorraine said, walking over and examining the table. "That's what happens when you're not afraid to defy the odds. I wouldn't be surprised if she came out on top."

 _Then you must be insane._

"Remember, I can hear your thoughts," Lorraine said with a smile.

Jeff blushed. Lorraine's smile only widened.

"Don't worry about it," Lorraine said. "I'm not one to judge you for thoughts that pop up into your mind. We can only control so much, after all."

"But I thought if we were passionate enough, we could control anything we wanted," Jeff said.

"Good. I like your way of thinking."

Jeff looked back at the screen to see Ana swinging her axe at Lucas. She held up better than he expected for someone on her final reserves of strength. He looked back at Lorraine to see the pink-haired woman's brow knotted and her eyes narrowed. She whispered something to herself that Jeff couldn't pick up.

"Oh," Lorraine said, her face softening after a moment. "Why was she trying so hard to hide from me?"

"I wasn't," came a voice that Jeff recognized. "I just didn't want the starmen to find me."

Kumatora walked up to Lorraine and hugged the older woman.

"It's nice to see you, mom," Kumatora said. "I just regained most of my memories recently."

"That's… wonderful," Lorraine said. Jeff caught an uncertain look on her face.

"And Jeff!" Kumatora said, directing her warm gaze over in his direction. "I'm glad that we get the chance to see each other again. What are you looking at?" Kumatora walked over to the screen where Ana was battling Lucas. "Oh."

"I'm trying to give her advice, but what can I do when she's fighting a savant?" Jeff asked.

"Tell her to run?"

"Already tried that."

Kumatora frowned, taking a closer look at Ana on the screen.

"Psych, she's _angry._ I didn't think that she was the type." Kumatora paused. "Is that Ness' sister dead on the ground over there?"

"Uh… yeah." Jeff grimaced.

"Well, I can't blame her for wanting to fight Lucas after he killed a 13 year old girl." Kumatora turned towards Lorraine. "Mom, there are starmen storming through the entrance to the Shard after Jeff broke the seal. Would you mind dealing with them?"

"I was just about to," Lorraine said. She hesitated for a moment before turning back to Kumatora. "Yes, that seems like the wise choice. Teleport."

Jeff could see Lorraine vanishing out of the corner of his eye. A gust of wind blew past, making a rippling sound as it sent Jeff's clothes flapping. He kept an eye on the edge of the building to make sure that he wouldn't fall off.

"The wind's strong here with nothing else to block it, huh?" Kumatora said, scanning the landscape. "Psych. My mother did quite the job of recreating Faldin."

"Faldin?"

"A planet where the Osohe lived. This is Ralthevar, city of stained glass."

 _And Faldin is now called Ceres, I think. Full circle._

"I can see how the city got its title," Jeff said, watching the screen as Lucas dodged one of Ana's attacks. "Why did your appearance throw your mother off her game like that? I could tell that she wasn't comfortable around you."

"Because I was _trying_ to make her uneasy," Kumatora said, her smile turning icy. "Her actions didn't make sense to me back when I lived here, and it still doesn't make sense now, but…" Kumatora shook her head. "I'm starting to put the pieces together. I do know that she is not our friend."

"Doesn't surprise me," Jeff said. "Something about her just gave me the wrong vibe."

"I thought that you didn't trust vibes and instincts."

"Not alone, I don't. I assume that you have good reason for distrusting your own mother, meaning that we should probably figure out something now before she gets back." Jeff turned away from the screen. "If you're right and she doesn't want to help us, this could be bigger than Ana's quarrel with Lucas. Let's address this quickly so I can try to think of some way to help Ana."

Kumatora glanced at the screen, her gaze lingering for a few moments before she eventually tore it away and looked back at Jeff.

"Glad to see that you're on board," Kumatora said. "But we should try to save Ana now. Every life matters. My mother even preached that sentiment, although I don't know if she ever truly believed it."

"But if we're still here looking at these screens when Lorraine comes back from defeating the starmen…"

"Who said anything about staying here? I have a way to keep you in contact with these screens remotely. Are you ready to leave?"

"I guess-"

"Teleport!" Kumatora said, interrupting Jeff.

The world faded around Jeff in a flash of light. The next second, he heard the sounds of bushes rustling and birds chirping. He looked around to see that he stood in a dense forest outside the boundaries of the city Ralthevar. With the trees overhead, he couldn't even see the massive city with its stained glass towers. A songbird chirped on a nearby tree, and Kumatora started along a shaded path.

"This way," Kumatora said. "I guess my teleport missed the mark by a hair."

After following Kumatora for less than a minute, Jeff emerged from the forest to spot a pond that radiated a golden light that engulfed all of the nearby trees in a sea of yellow. It wasn't bright enough to hurt his eyes, but it glowed with enough intensity to emit a mystical aura. A massive elk with giant antlers drank from the golden water in the pond before walking off, not appearing to notice Jeff or Kumatora.

"Gawk later," Kumatora said. "Here, put this on."

Kumatora held out a lens in front of Jeff, but he couldn't force himself to look away from the golden pond. Birds colored in all different shades of the rainbow emerged from the trees, singing different tunes that compounded with each other to form one, complete song. A school of sliver fish with sparkling scales swam close to the surface of the pond before diving deep underneath. Divine Rulers, how far down did that pond go?

"Jeff!"

"Uh… Sorry." Jeff took the lens from Kumatora, holding it up for inspection.

"This is the Franklin Badge," Kumatora said. "Not the original kind that the Osohe used, but the transparency gives it more functionality. It will let you see just like those screens back on top of the building where my mother took you. Use it to find Ana again."

"Why is it called a badge if it's just a lens?" Jeff said, putting it over the right part of his glasses.

"It's an archaic name. It can reflect light-based attacks as well, and my dad upgraded it to take light energy and use it for clairvoyance. Go ahead and imagine Ana."

Jeff closed his eyes and focused on Ana's muscular build and stoic posture. Upon opening them, he once again saw the torn streets of Ceres through the lens that Kumatora had given him. Ana continued to fight Lucas, and she still stood despite the time that had lapsed while she fought an almost godlike being.

"Now," Kumatora said. "We brainstorm ways to kill a savant."

* * *

"I think that's all of them," Claus said.

Ninten sighed in relief. His legs ached after darting around and stabbing starmen for what felt like hours.

"Would have been so much easier with one of the Osohe knives," Ninten said. "You insert one of those in and they just fall to pieces."

Claus grunted.

"I know," Claus said. "I killed quite a number of starmen with Amourus before you fused it into the Sword of Kings and Mary stole it."

"It's funny, looking back," Ninten said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. "We used to see starmen as such a threat. Now, they're just roadblocks in our path. We could have died here today, but given what else we've faced…"

"Yeah, these starmen seem like a bunch of pushovers," Claus said. His nose wrinkled. "Still doesn't make them pleasant to kill, though."

"Wasn't too bad during the fight," Ninten said. "But after…"

Ninten looked around at the couple dozen or so starmen lying at their feet. Each one gave off the same sickly sweet stench that Ninten was starting to become accustomed to. His heart stopped pounding in his chest, adrenaline stopped commanding him to run and stab, and Ninten realized that he felt exhausted.

"Let's head back to the Shard," Claus said. "Who knows if a third wave might come in?"

"We might not be that helpful," Ninten said with a grin. "In the time that it took us to kill a squad, Diana and Poo mauled the rest of the army. Poo can use PK attacks to hit a lot of starmen at once, and… Well, Diana's just Diana."

"She could probably take the entire starman force out on her own if they came at her one by one," Claus said. "But they'll probably want to know that we're safe."

"True." Ninten's legs burned as he took a step forward. "Let's go, then."

Ninten looked back at the Shard of Ceres in the distance. In chasing down small group after small group of starmen to kill, they had wandered quite a distance away from the purple building that loomed overhead. At least it would provide plenty of time to cool down so that Ninten's muscles wouldn't tighten up after exerting himself.

A moment later, Ninten detected a psionic aura behind him. When an aura just appeared like that, it usually meant that a psion teleported in. Ninten whirled around to see Mary levitating inches off the ground. The handle of the Sword of Kings stuck out from her chest while most of the blade jutted out behind her back. Ninten spotted the Sound Stone inside of the hilt.

"Claus," Mary said. "It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

Claus? Since when had Mary known Claus? Ninten looked over at his friend, who didn't look any less confused.

"Still don't recognize me?" Mary said. "You humans. Always blinded by what you _think_ you see."

"Fassad," Claus said. "I could never forget that smile of yours. Someone needs to knock a few of your teeth out."

"Ah, but these aren't _my_ teeth." Mary laughed. "You actually did me a service by freeing Lucas from my control. This body suits me far better than a child's."

"You managed to gain control of Mary's body?" Claus said. "How?"

"You combined three knives containing three spirits to create the Sword of Kings," Fassad said. "My spirit was in one of those knives, remember? So now it's inside this body, alongside the other two spirits and that dysfunctional starman."

"And they let _you_ be in charge?" Ninten said.

"I struck a deal with Gigyas," Mary said. "He let me control the body if I agreed to kill Ceresian psions for him. It turns out that Mary was resisting his will enough that it was easier for him to let someone else take the reins. Now isn't that just sweet? I get to profit off of her hard work!"

"So my mother's in there too," Claus said, his voice so soft that Ninten hardly heard it. "She's still alive, in a way."

"Yes she is, but I doubt that she wants to see you," Mary said, smiling in Fassad-like fashion once more. "Still, Claus, you spat in my face by freeing your brother from my control. _Nobody_ does that and gets away with it. The fact that I'm supposed to kill psions anyway is just another nice bonus."

"Well," Ninten said, summoning a sword made of green ectoplasm. "It looks like just killing starmen was too much to ask for."

* * *

Ana swung her axe at Lucas, forcing him to parry with his stained glass sword. Ana's axe locked with his blade for a moment, and Ana pushed Lucas back with all of her strength.

Ana knew that Lucas was faster than her, Lucas was more precise than her, and that Lucas had a more refined killer instinct than her. But if she could turn this into a test of brute force, she might stand a chance.

Lucas staggered backwards, his sword falling away from his hands. The stained glass blade clattered to the ground, and Ana expected it to shatter like actual glass would. Instead, it vanished a moment later.

Lucas could summon psionically enhanced blades and armor whenever he wanted to, and he could dismiss them in a similar manner. Ana remembered Lucas back on Vulcan dismissing his blade and then summoning it in another position so quickly that her eyes couldn't follow it.

Ana lunged at Lucas, and he barely managed to summon his sword in time to block her attack.

What used to be effortless for him now took a considerable amount of time.

"You're a dead woman walking," Lucas said, his voice still monotone. "Without psionics, you don't stand a chance."

"Well, it doesn't really look like you have psionics either," Ana said, swinging at Lucas again. "At least, not psionics that will help you."

Lucas growled, parrying Ana's attack and lashing out with his right leg. His foot slammed into her ankle, nearly tripping her. Ana staggered backwards but brought her axe down on Lucas with enough momentum to prompt a step backwards. Lucas and Ana stood outside of each other's weapon ranges, staring each other down.

"If you were on top of your game, you would have pulled some crazy trick with your sword," Ana said. "I remember your sword vanishing and appearing a moment later as a lance inside of your opponent's chest. But I bet that you can't do that anymore, can you?"

"Shut up!" Lucas' face flushed red with rage.

Ana laughed. Finally, Lucas sounded like something other than a robot.

"You little…" Lucas' face returned to neutral. "This is about them, isn't it? Your two friends that I killed."

"And Ness."

Lucas' face twitched. Ana wouldn't have even noticed it in someone else's expression, but with Lucas looking so devoid of emotion, she wondered if even hearing Ness' name set off something deep within him.

"It's for him that I say this." Lucas pointed his sword at Ana. "Go. I'll spare your life. Maybe that will calm the voices in my head."

 _Oh Lucas,_ Ana thought. _You really shouldn't have just told me why I need to keep fighting. If I die, will the voices scream louder the next time you kill somebody?_

Ana raised her axe in reply to Lucas' blade.

 _If so, I'll gladly die. My life means nothing._

Ana lunged forward at Lucas. The two fought in an extended duel, with both sides able to take multiple hits and walk away without a scratch. Ana still didn't manage to hit Lucas even once, but at least she put enough pressure on him that any hits he landed on her merely left minor wounds. Ana knew that she was toying with death itself; a direct hit from Lucas would probably kill her and she didn't have the psionic energy to heal up even if she could delay the damage by slowing her metabolism.

For the first time in years, Ana didn't think about the danger. She didn't let her constant worries weigh her down. So even though she exhausted reserves of strength that she didn't even know she had, Ana still felt more alert and alive than she could remember previously.

 _I'm turning into General Kim,_ Ana told herself. _I'm becoming someone who fights and kills with glee._

Ana would accept that, if she could fight and kill Lucas before dying in this war elsewhere.

Ana began to tire while Lucas kept up his same pace of battle, but her strength didn't decline as quickly as she expected. She still managed to put more brute force behind her swings than most soldiers could manage on one of their good days. Lucas continued with his same fighting style, parrying light attacks and running circles around Ana while trying to nick her with his blade. He probably figured that after enough time and with her body littered with small wounds, Ana would eventually give out. He was probably right.

Ana didn't care. She roared and smiled. She took in the world with wide eyes as she swung her axe around. Psych it, she was standing up to a psionic savant, a being so powerful that it could ravage entire cities, and she wasn't even dead yet. How many people could claim to keep Lucas distracted for even a few minutes?

 _Besides,_ Ana thought, _If I keep him busy here, I make sure he's not hurting anyone else._

Ana could content herself with the knowledge that delaying Lucas here probably saved several lives that he would have taken instead with this time. Stalling her own death here was the most that she would ever do for the universe, so she had better psyching do it well.

 _"Ana!"_ came a voice in her mind. _"It's me, Jeff. I'm here in the Shard of Ceres with Kumatora. We're trying to think of a way to help you beat Lucas."_

Jeff? In the Shard of Ceres? Well, he _did_ say that he had visited before, and with that shroud of mystery surrounding that structure… Who knew what sorts of powers the Shard granted access to? Maybe it allowed for long range telepathy. Considering that a powerful psion could probably send a telepathic message across several miles, Ana suspected that the Shard could handle such a task with ease.

 _"Well,"_ Ana thought, trying to send a message back to Jeff. _"Do you have any ideas?"_

The thought almost cost Ana her life; she barely raised her axe in time to swat Lucas' sword out of its intended path so that it wouldn't stab her in the chest.

"Oops," Ana said out loud.

Ana spent the next few moments following Lucas' movements. It wouldn't do to have her die right before Jeff granted her the key to victory.

 _"Nothing yet,"_ said the voice in her head. _"Can you distract him by talking about Ness?"_

 _"Should have thought of that one myself,"_ Ana sent back.

"Lucas," Ana said. "You've killed thousands of people, right? Why does Ness still refuse to get out of your head?"

Lucas faltered for a moment. He shot Ana a wary look.

 _"Don't attack,"_ Jeff transmitted. _"It will give him an excuse to dismiss your words."_

Lucas lunged forward, slashing at Ana more quickly than she could keep track of. Ana managed to dodge most of the attacks, but one grazed by her stomach, drawing blood. Ana counted herself lucky.

"You remember me _because_ of Ness," Ana said. "Did you know that the girl you just killed was his sister?"

Lucas' eyes widened.

"His… sister? You mean…"

"Yes. Ness would be _bawling_ in his grave if he could see you right now."

Lucas' mouth tightened, stepping in for another round of attacks.

 _"My father, Dr. Andonuts, unlocked the way to create a savant of Lucas' type,"_ Jeff transmitted. _"One that could only summon a sword and armor. Minerva stole his research and used it to turn Lucas into the monster in front of you."_

Fascinating, but Ana didn't know what that had to do with defeating Lucas. Maybe she should let Jeff work this one out on his own.

"Her name was Tracy," Ana said. "They loved each other as siblings. They spent time together, forging memories that should have lasted a lifetime." Ana shoved a finger at Lucas. "Memories that _you_ took away from them."

"Siblings…" Lucas lashed out, almost cutting Ana's finger off. "Siblings exist to create pain for the others. Ness was older, thus he was bigger and stronger. Even though he treated me like a friend, he probably hurt Tracy more than she would ever admit." Lucas' eyes blazed with anger. "He was probably just like Claus."

"You know that's a lie," Ana said. "Ness would never hurt anyone."

Lucas' eyes flashed with guilt. He squeezed his eyes shut for a full second before opening them again. Ana's mind leapt to collect all of the implications from Lucas' minor breakdown. He had faltered before, but something about Ana's words caused him to suffer in a visible way. Why would Ness not hurting anyone cause him so much grief?

 _Wait a second._

Ana's heart skipped a beat.

 _No psyching way._

"When you killed Ness," Ana said. "He didn't even try to fight you, did he? He just begged for you to stop while you ran your sword through his heart."

Looking into Lucas' haunted eyes, Ana knew that she had hit the mark.

 _That's so like him,_ Ana thought. _Not even fighting when backed into a corner. It's so stupid… but it's also the smartest thing he could have done. Lucas doesn't remember the thousands of other people he killed, but the image of Ness not even fighting back as he faces certain death still scars Lucas._

It made sense. A thousand people was just a number. A statistic. After a while, their screams started to blend together. The warm spray of blood grew familiar. The human brain grew bored of repetition.

But Ness standing strong, refusing to fight even as Lucas killed him, smiling as he died… that would stay in Lucas' heart forever.

"No," Lucas said. "You will _not_ remind me. I _will_ make the voices go away. Master Giygas gave me the power of gods!"

Lucas screamed as he charged forward, but his attacks were wild and unchained rather than calculated. Instead of trying to tire Ana out like before, he hacked at the same places on her body: her head, her chest, and her legs. He wound up each attack before swinging, giving Ana plenty of time to block.

"Just die already!" Lucas shouted. "You weren't supposed to survive this long!"

 _"That's good!"_ Jeff transmitted. _"Now if we find a weakness, we have a better chance of using it to our advantage."_

 _If_ we find a weakness? Oh boy. Still, the fury in Lucas' gaze was enough of an incentive to care about defying death for just a little longer. Ana wanted to see how much she could push his buttons.

 _"I was thinking,"_ Jeff transmitted. _"What if my father put a safety switch on his creation? A hidden weakness to a savant, if you will."_

 _"I'm pretty sure someone would have figured it out before now,"_ Ana sent back.

 _"Seriously. I know that my father wouldn't give a savant free reign. I bet he installed some sort of easy way to deactivate a savant."_

 _"Well, wouldn't that be nice?"_ Ana sent, blocking another round of Lucas' attacks. _"If it were that easy, I'd feel terrible about all of the deaths Lucas caused already."_

 _"His fault, not ours,"_ Jeff transmitted. _"Okay, maybe the switch isn't easy, but I think it's still there if you really know what to look for."_

But Ana _didn't_ know what to look for.

 _"I'm sorry that I can't think of more,"_ Jeff transmitted. _"Try to think like a scientist would. What's the purpose of everything that makes Lucas a savant? Could anything that doesn't quite fit be hiding a hidden feature? Maybe you'll come up with something that I didn't."_

A hidden feature? Something that didn't quite fit? Everything about Lucas' psionic savantism made sense. His sword helped him kill, his armor helped him stay alive, and his logical mind allowed him to win fights before they started. The kid was psyching invincible!

The colors on Lucas' sword brightened as he tried to slice Ana's head off for what felt like the hundreth time. Ana parried the attack as an afterthought. Such a beautiful sword…

Then something occurred to her.

 _"Lucas' blade,"_ Ana sent. _It's so psyching pretty. "Why?"_

 _"Well, it lit up when he pierced Venus' armor,"_ Jeff transmitted.

 _"But it's not like the color itself is giving the sword power,"_ Ana thought. _"It could still be a plain sword that does stupid amounts of damage and breaks through seemingly invincible armor when it wants to."_

 _"Maybe he wants to distract his opponents?"_

Distract his opponents with color rather than using an actual psionic enchantment on his sword that would send disruptive telepathic messages? Ana didn't think so.

 _"That's what doesn't fit,"_ Ana thought. _"It doesn't make sense that his sword is so shiny and pretty."_

Ana beamed as she blocked Lucas' next attack. Maybe she was finally getting somewhere!

 _"…So now what?"_ Ana sent.

 _"Um…"_

 _"Seriously, Jeff? You don't have any ideas?"_

 _"I'm thinking! Maybe…"_

Ana tried to push the battle fatigue back even further in her mind but found that she could hardly move her arms. All of the exhaustion that she should have suffered from pushing her body past its normal limits fell on her in that one moment. Lucas' next attack nearly swatted the axe out of her hands. Psych, she needed to come up with something quickly.

 _"A savant still has a bit of a cognitive spirit, right?"_ Jeff transmitted. _"It's more than their brain chemistry that changes. You can't just completely block out emotions and morals like that. Even Mary got angry and tried to justify herself."_

 _"So?"_ Ana sent. Lucas' next attack sliced part of her arm open. Her aura didn't even manage to seal the wound completely, which meant that she couldn't afford to take even minor wounds.

 _"That means part of his cognitive essence is trapped away somewhere,"_ Jeff transmitted. _"The part with creativity and love. Where do you think it could be?"_

Ana looked at Lucas' stained glass sword yet another time before stepping backwards to dodge his next attack. Could it honestly be…?

In that moment, everything clicked together. When Lucas was recovering, Diana Carpainter told them that he couldn't summon his sword or armor if he wanted to turn back into a normal person. The act of using psionics didn't push Lucas closer to becoming a savant; summoning the sword and armor tore parts of his psionic spirit away from his body. The Sanctuaries hastened Lucas' recovery because they revitalized weary sprits, not because they prevented the use of psionics.

Lucas was so soulless because Minerva's Carpainter brainwashing had trapped his soul inside the blade itself.

 _"So how do I free that part of his sprit?"_ Ana transmitted. _"How do I give him his emotions back?"_

After asking the question, Ana realized that she already knew the answer.

Ana roared, raising her axe above her head. Lucas managed to slice open part of her thigh, but Ana hardly felt the pain. Ana brought the axe down with all of her might. Lucas casually raised his sword to parry, and Ana could tell that he wanted to fend off Ana's attack as quickly as possible so that he could go back to attacking. She could use his haste to her advantage.

Ana altered the direction of her axe at the last second, hitting the tip of Lucas' sword instead of a part near the middle. The sword spun out of Lucas' hands, clattering on the ground nearby. Ana looked at Lucas' shocked expression for a second before diving for the sword. Lucas strained his face and Ana could tell that he was trying to deactivate his sword so that he could summon it back in his hand. However, he couldn't act quickly enough in his addled state.

Ana picked Lucas' stained glass sword up off the ground and drove it straight into his chest.

For a moment, the world fell still.

"Ana." Lucas stumbled forward and fell to his hands and knees. "Thank... you."

* * *

 **So if you didn't catch that, all the good parts of Lucas' soul were stored in his sword all along, and Ana gave him the rest of his spirit back by driving the sword into Lucas' body. But remember that Lucas still has a lot of baggage to deal with...**

 **And we still have another crazy savant to deal with (Mary). Man, I'll say it was really tricky to wrap up everything up about all the different characters. And trust me, we have more for characters like Monotoli and the real Mary.**

 **Amourus:** One of the three knives of power that contains Hinawa's spirit and hides trails created when PSI is used. The knives of power, including Amourus, kill starmen quite quickly. By stabbing a starman with the knives, a human soul is inserted into the starman's body and causes the starman to malfunction. Called the knife of love, and comes from the Latin "Am" and French "Amour" for love.

 **Phonus:** Knife of sound, derived from the Latin "Phon" for sound. Fassad's soul is stuck in here, and he used it to control Lucas back on Vulcan. Now his spirit is in the Sword of Kings, which is in Mary's Body.

 **Fassad:** Bears a grudge against Claus, who along with Diana freed Lucas from his grasp in Vulcan back in the previous fic. Now he's in control of a powerful savant and is a meanie :( Previously, he was one of the Magypsies created by Lorraine of the Osohe, and survived having his needle pulled because his spirit was stuck in the knife Phonus.

 **Review Response: Guest:** Well, even Lucas himself probably agrees with you that he doesn't deserve to live, and that's one way of thinking about it. But the person killing all those people is less Lucas and more of a weapon that other people turned him into. The "real" Lucas supposedly wouldn't kill those people, or at least that's what the story is going for. But yeah, it's definitely a tricky situation. :(


	39. Chapter 35: Deserve to Die

**Note: There's are some descriptions in this chapter that involve blood. They're not especially gory but I just though I'd let you know.**

* * *

 _Our queen seeks to rise up and eliminate Giygas. She wishes to become the new Giygas._

 _I can only imagine that she'll leave us in the dust after she's done._

* * *

"STARMAN DX," Giygas said, his telepathic voice booming in the starman's mind. "WE HAVE MATTERS TO DISCUSS."

Starman DX opened his eyes and looked out towards the horizon. Ironically, using physical senses such as sight made Starman DX feel almost blind; putting so much energy into seeing the red ball of fire setting in the sky as it projected light onto pink clouds meant that he couldn't use his psionic senses with as much precision. Starman DX reached out with his sense of touch and felt the wind. As a child, Diana had always closed her eyes and danced along with the breeze. Starman DX, also known as Mr. Carpainter, still couldn't see what about a simple flow of air particles enamored her so.

Starman DX shifted his gaze towards the ground several stories below. Once he tried to perceive, it noticed the cool sensation of evening-chilled metal on his feet. From the visual picture and the touch stimulus, he pieced together that he was standing on top of a building in the Ceresian city. In his human form, it would have taken Starman DX an instant to notice what now took him several seconds.

"Giygas," Starman DX said, opening his psionic senses back up and detecting Giygas' familiar body. "What's important enough for you to come to me personally about?"

"THE GIRL," Giygas said, "AND YOUR… CHILD. THEY KNOW TOO MUCH."

"Too much about the enemy, maybe," Starman DX said. "You think me a fool, Giygas. Your analysis led you to the conclusion that I'm an insurgent in the least practical way. But you've never been more wrong."

"EXPLAIN."

If Starman DX were in his human body, he would have cracked a smile. Standing up to a being more powerful than him was somehow… exciting. Was this how Diana felt when she defied him with a knotted brow and hands on her hips knowing full well that her words would result in a beating? The more Starman DX considered his one remaining daughter, the more he realized how similar they were.

Perhaps she could teach him something.

"For all of our plans and attacks, we don't give two fucks about these humans," Starman DX said. "By all projections, they're going to wipe themselves out in a couple centuries anyway."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT I ALREADY KNOW," Giygas said. "HUMANS LACK THE CAPABILITY TO FORM PLANS LONGER THAN THEIR PUNY LIFESPANS. ALL STARMEN KNOW THIS."

"So why does it matter that we released two humans that can harm us? The information that they hold turns them against our enemy."

"YOU CANNOT BE CERTAIN. YOU KNOW OUR PLAN, STARMAN DX. WHILE THE HUMANS WILL NEVER ACHIEVE TRUE VICTORY, THEY MAY DELAY US."

And by "delay," Giygas meant that the humans could drive his forces away for millennia. They would certainly consider that a victory.

"First of all," Starman DX said. "Kumatora and Diana Carpainter won't make the difference between our plan succeeding and failing. Even if the humans knew what we were up to, they could never even _dream_ of stopping us."

"YOU NEVER KNOW. I CALCULATED THE DANGER OF THE KNOWLEDGE, AND IT MAY CAUSE THEM TO HARNESS ENOUGH ENERGY TO NEGATE ANYTHING WE TRY."

Starman DX paused. Enough energy to _negate_ their plan? He had lived in this realm since its conception, and he hadn't found anything that could combat what he and Giygas had in store. But if Giygas was concerned, then maybe the humans had a chance. A miniscule chance, no doubt, but a chance nonetheless.

Starman DX wanted to see them win.

"Which brings me to my second point," Starman DX said. "If they can defeat us, surely they will bright their might down against the enemy as well. Don't you see? We don't even care about delays. Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire just has to fall with us."

"OF COURSE. YET I STILL DO NOT SEE THE BENEFIT IN RELEASING THE TWO HUMANS."

"Why bother dirtying our hands when they'll take care of Lorraine for us?" Starman DX asked.

"SO THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AN… EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT?"

Psych. Giygas really _could_ analyze every situation and come up with the most likely scenario through the sheer process of crunching data.

"Maybe it does," Starman DX admitted. "Why should it matter?"

"I LOOK TOWARDS THE FUTURE. IF I CANNOT RELY ON YOU TO MAKE PRACTICAL DECISIONS, I SHALL DISPOSE OF YOU NOW."

Starman DX knew that Giygas never made threats; he merely transmitted his plans when it was logical for others to hear. Giygas would dispose of Starman DX in an instant if he thought it the proper move, but malice would never factor into the decision.

Still, it amused Starman DX how similar he and Giygas were to these humans on a basic level. Sure, the Ancients were far more advanced than the humans could ever hope to realize and the two races had been created in different planes of existence, but their mechanisms for action remained similar. While Giygas didn't feel emotions like humans did, other forces drove him to act. It didn't matter in the end _why_ someone acted a specific way; actions spoke for themselves. And while Starman DX and Giygas would never talk like humans would, they still exchanged information via telepathy.

In the end, anything capable of performing work was a machine. Starmen, Ancients, humans, robots, bacteria, planets, galaxies… they all acted based on some underlying logic, whether it be neural impulses or the basic laws of gravity. There was nothing sacred about "life" or "existence"; the potential to create change was all that mattered.

"WELL?" Giygas said. "IT ALMOST SEEMED LIKE YOU WERE… THINKING."

"Almost, but not quite," Starman DX said. "I just… analyze different data sometimes. Fine, have it your way. I'll stay out of anything until this conflict runs its course. That way, you can be sure that I won't act to assist my daughter."

"I FIND IT ODD THAT YOU CONSIDER YOUR HUMAN SPAWN TO BE YOUR TRUE CHILD."

"You told me to masquerade as a human, to gather information on how easy it was to imprint them," Starman DX said. "I guess they imprinted me too. Just look at what happened to Starman Jenny."

"YOU DIDN'T GIVE IT PART OF YOUR WILL?"

"Nope. Being in this physical realm tends to foster chaos. Without your leashes stretching out through the psionic realm to bind them, the starmen start to develop individual habits."

"SO LORRAINE HAS CURSED THE FABRIC OF PHYSICAL SPACE ITSELF TO DESTROY ALL IT TOUCHES," Giygas said.

"Well… yeah, basically."

"HMM. I SHALL PREPARE FOR MY PLANS, STARMAN DX. ALONE, I MIGHT ADD. YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM THE CURSE OF ENTROPY. SOON, YOUR LOGIC MAY BEGIN TO BREAK APART."

 _I wonder how Lorraine lasted this long without showing any signs of chaos or illogical behavior,_ Starman DX thought. _She existed fully in this universe for longer than I have, so I would expect to see some wear and tear._

But then again, Lorraine had always called herself an agent of chaos. Maybe she embraced the destruction.

"One more request, Giygas," Starman DX said. "If you're not going to kill the humans I freed, you should at least release Darius."

"I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE NOT ADOPTED THE HUMAN NOTION OF JUSTICE, STARMAN DX," Giygas said.

"No, it's not that." Starman DX would have smiled if it could. "You see, I crunched a few numbers while you were gone. If the humans are going to mess with Lorraine, they'll need his help."

"HELP? MY STARMEN TAUGHT HIM TO HATE ALL HUMANS."

"Well, it doesn't matter what he _thinks,_ " Starman DX said. "Unlike us, these humans are made up of more than thoughts. Darius has the power to throw Lorraine for a real loop."

"YOU MEAN HIS SPECIAL POWER?"

"What else? Humans may not be able to see even a millionth of our depths and mechanical workings, but they can harness power just like we can."

"JUST LIKE YOU CANNOT."

"Yes, yes, I lost all of my abilities long ago when Lorraine killed me."

"IT IS A MIRACLE THAT YOU REFORMED BACK INTO YOURSELF AFTER YOUR DEATH. YOUR POWERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABSORBED INTO EITHER ME OR HER."

"I guess I'm just a special guy," Starman DX said.

"CHERISH YOUR EXISTENCE, IF YOU WISH. I SHALL RELEASE THE HUMAN DARIUS UPON THE REST OF HIS SPECIES, ALTHOUGH I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU EXPECT TO GAIN FROM IT."

"Just trust me," Starman DX said. "I think that you're going to like it."

Without a goodbye, Giygas teleported away. Starman DX would normally have mulled over Giygas' words, but he had a plan that even Giygas himself didn't know about. Starman DX probed outwards with his psionic senses. After a few minutes, another being appeared next to him.

Starman DX knew that this new visitor was dead, although it was basically impossible to tell by looking in the psionic realm alone. Even once bodies decomposed, spirits lingered in the psionic realm. Starman DX's rule of thumb was to assume that any spirit near an inhabited planet belonged to a living being, but he knew this person to be an exception.

"George," Starman DX said. "Lloyd. What should I call you?"

"George is fine." The spirit appeared in its thoughts as a human, smiling at Starman DX. "And what about you? Shall I call you Mr. Carpainter?"

"The name does not offend me. Feel free to call me what you wish."

"So could I call you silly-dum-dum-poo if I wanted to?" George asked, his eyes twinkling.

In the psionic realm, spirits appeared how they wished to appear. So while starmen simply looked like masses of data, humans usually retained the appearance of their previous form. Therefore, Starman DX could see George's human mannerisms even from the psionic realm.

"Feel free."

"Aw, it's no fun if you just _let_ me call you whatever I want."

"Being 'fun' isn't on my list of priorities right now."

George put a finger on his chin, knotting his brow.

"You seem to get more human by the day, Mr. Carpainter."

"That's why I agreed to this plan, isn't it?"

"Indeed. It's so generous that I'm tempted to suspect foul play. Would you _really_ team up with me to ensure Giygas' defeat?"

"After your pathetic prediction that the boy would PK Rockin would defat Giygas, you'll need all the help you can get."

"Ouch." George smiled, not looking hurt in the slightest.

"In all seriousness," Starman DX said. "Giygas will never lose. Well, unless Lorraine wins, but then she'll basically be the new Giygas, so nothing changes."

"I still don't quite understand how that works…"

"I'll tell you later. The important part is that Giygas will win, and that's okay. We just have to stop him where we can and win alongside him."

"Is there really no way to kill him?"

Starman DX transmitted the equivalent of a sigh. Explaining even simple concepts turned into a nightmare when he was working with humans.

"You're thinking about it wrong. Giygas is an Ancient who exists mostly in the psionic realm. Do you know how entropy works where we are?"

"It's reversed, right?" George said. "Energy tends to clump up, not spread out."

"Exactly. So when you 'kill' Giygas, you spread him apart."

"Huh?"

"Think about killing a person," Starman DX said. "They die because something important is separated from the rest of the body. When you humans bleed out, you die because your brain is separated from oxygen, right?"

"I never really thought about it that way, but I guess so."

"And when something in the physical realm gets separated, it just wants to get _more_ separated. Your brain's not going to automatically reconnect with the central nervous system and oxygen paths after it's dead, right?"

"Right…"

"But Giygas' body _does_ reconnect with itself. When you 'kill' him and spread his corpse around, it just reforms back into his body. So you can't ever get rid of him for good."

"Damn. So how do we win?"

"I told you. We win alongside Giygas. And just because we can't kill him doesn't mean that we can't stop him. I have a plan. It probably won't work, but since you're so desperate…"

"Yeah, I'll take anything."

Starman DX imagined itself as a human and smiled for George to see.

"Listen up."

* * *

Starman Jenny observed Mary's twitching body on the ground of Magicant.

"Psy…" Mary flopped over on her back, her eyes closed in concentration. "Psych. The pain…" Mary curled up into a ball. "Ooh… I can't take this for-" Mary bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut even more tightly as she rocked her body back and forth.

"Are you... functioning correctly?" Starman Jenny asked.

"Gah." Mary released a sigh, spreading her body back out. Her chest rose as she took deep breaths. "I think that I'll make it."

"You humans tend to be uncooperative while irritated, but may I ask what just happened?" Jenny said.

"Nggh." Mary grabbed onto a part of the fluffy, pink ground of Magicant and tore it off. "Fassad… god damn."

"What did he do to you?" Jenny asked.

"He weakened me." Mary's eyes remained shut. "Remember, my existence here in Magicant is all that's keeping me from turning into a cruel killer."

"Yes, I know," Jenny said. "So do your current cries of pain result from you attempting to hold your body back in your weakened state?"

"Basically, yeah. I doubt Fassad knows this, but the killer inside of me would overpower him if I let it. He's controlling my body, but if I can't hold the other part of me back, then I turn into _her._ I turn into a woman who vaporizes entire cities for a sense of mild satisfaction. That's why… I can't…" Tears leaked from Mary's closed eyes. "I saw Fiven after I destroyed it. When I flew down and landed in the scene of destruction, I couldn't see anything but sand for miles. Nothing made a sound. So lifeless…"

"So even though Fassad controlling your body is bad news, the alternative is worse?" Jenny said. "I guess I can't argue with that claim."

"And the worst part is that I know it's me who caused the silence. It's me who called up a void to consume an entire city."

"You cannot blame yourself," Jenny said. "You turned yourself into a savant, yes? That is why you acted in such a manner."

Jenny was starting to understand these humans well enough to have a decent grasp of where this conversation was going. Mary would say that she had chosen to become a savant so it was her fault. Then Jenny would rebut with-

"But the savant is still _me,"_ Mary said.

"Hmm?" Jenny said.

"When I started to become a savant, my cognitive spirit split into two. The part that you see in front of you contains most of what's good about me, while the part that controls my body contains most of my flaws. That evil side is still me, and it overpowered the good. When I realized, I tried to stop it, but…"

"You couldn't," Jenny finished. "That's when you stabbed yourself with Dynaldas so that it would capture your spirit and render your body incapable of action."

"Yeah. It seemed like the only thing I could do. But even if I could rejoin with my other side and make myself whole again… I doubt that I would appear like this. I still might want to fight and kill. Because the feelings that made me want to destroy Fiven are still there, in the other part of me, and they're completely real. I just exist to keep them in check."

 _I thought that savants couldn't feel emotion. But I suppose that Mary knows herself better than I do._

"Jenny," Mary said, her eyes flashing open. "Please, you have to weaken Fassad and take control of this body for yourself. I don't want him abusing my psionics, and I think that your master would want to have a starman serve him rather than an unstable magypsy."

"You think that if you try to control the body yourself, you still might be bitter enough to inflict harm upon your fellow humans?" Jenny said.

"Right. I want to leave it… to you. Please don't kill any more than you have to."

 _But I'm a starman,_ Jenny thought. _I don't respect life, since death means nothing to me._

"Affirmative," Jenny said. "I'll try my best to get rid of Fassad. I even shot a beam at him after he attacked you, remember?"

Mary smiled, closing her eyes once more.

"I do," she said. "Even though it shouldn't matter to you who controls the body. Do you… actually care about me?"

 _Did_ Jenny actually care? She didn't know if she could answer that question herself. Caring was supposed to be for animals alone.

"It's okay if you don't," Mary said, straining her voice. "I appreciate your help anyway. Fassad should be in the royal hall of Magicant. Head up through the gate and you can't miss it."

Jenny nodded and turned around to leave.

"I'm sorry, Ninten," Mary said. Jenny looked back and saw Mary's hands placed over her heart. "I… always wanted to know my great-grandson for real, but I guess we'll never meet again."

 _Never meet again…_

Starman Jenny left Mary crying on the ground of Magicant and teleported short distances until she left the village and arrived at the pink castle in the distance.

* * *

As adrenaline abandoned her body, Ana collapsed to the ground. She opened her mouth in surprise and tasted the cool cobblestone ground under her face, her tongue feeling all of the little bumps of the stones that molded together to make up the street. She forced herself back up to a sitting position, her vision swirling. Lucas stood up between her and an abandoned flower shop.

Lucas walked up to a display pot in front of the shop and plucked out a sunflower. He rotated the sunflower, looking at it from every possible angle. How could that boy possibly pay more attention to a psyching flower than the sword sticking through his chest? Even _years_ of stabbing herself couldn't allow Ana to completely ignore a sword through her chest like Lucas was doing.

After a moment, Lucas started laughing. Ana sat up straight, tensing her arm muscles while gripping her axe with both hands. Lucas turned back to Ana holding the sunflower, and she could see tears streaming out of his eyes.

"So this is how it ends," Lucas said. "Defeated by nothing short of a miracle, saved against all odds, to return to…" Lucas looked up at the purple dome in the sky. "Why does living hurt so much, Ana? I never asked anyone that question before, but I've been thinking about it for years and I'm still no closer to an answer."

No. Ana had done everything right! She stabbed Lucas, who was supposed to be the perfect warrior, with his own sword so that his conscience would return. He was supposed to be normal again, psych it!

"It's not fair, is it?" Lucas said. "You saved me, and I turned out to be some creep who's already given up on everything."

No, it _wasn't_ fair. Ness threw his life away for this.

"I hate to say it, but this is the real me," Lucas said. "Do you know why Minerva Carpainter turned me into a savant? It's because I _asked_ her to."

"You…" Ana's brought herself to her feet. "But why? Nobody should _want_ to become a mindless killer."

"Actually, I asked her to kill me first." Lucas smiled as if it were all a joke. "She offered the idea of becoming a savant as an alternative. To live without pain or sorrow… and all I had to sacrifice were feelings of joy and love that had been beaten out of me a long time ago anyway. It seemed like the perfect deal. But of course, I was a psyching idiot."

"Damn right you were!" Ana said. "Look at all of the destruction you caused. Just _look_ at it!"

"I already-"

"I SAID LOOK AT IT YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!"

Ana's eyes focused on two bodies lying side by side on the ground. A decapitated girl with her mouth wide open, frozen in a scream. A woman with glassy eyes and her hands stretched out in front of her. Tears blurred Ana's vision.

She would have given anything to take their place.

The scars on Ana's left arm started itching. She rolled up her sleeve and felt all of the bumps along her arm. Whenever she passed over a scar, she could feel her hand reaching for her knife to reopen those juicy wounds…

 _"Stop!"_

Jeff's voice… could he see her right now, reaching for a way to override her sorrows with sheer pain? At this point, she hardly cared.

 _"Please, try to reason with Lucas some more."_

Ana wiped the tears away from her eyes and looked back at Lucas. The blond-haired boy was staring at the corpses with his hands clasped together and longing in his eyes. Lucas turned away and muttered what sounded like a prayer before turning back towards Ana.

"I'm sorry," Lucas said. "Although I doubt that means anything to you."

"Ness _died_ so that you would realize what was wrong with you," Ana said. "If he had known that this is who you really were, I don't think that he would have bothered."

"Maybe not," Lucas said. He ran his fingers over the petals of the sunflower in his other hand. "But he was always able to bring out the best in me. Right when I thought that I had nothing good left in me…"

"You still don't," Ana said. "You just murdered his sister and you shrug it off like this?"

"Tracy," Lucas said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I'm sure that Ness loved her. I'm sure that her mother will be devastated."

"What do you think you're trying to-"

"Venus," Lucas said, interrupting Ana. "Erine Monotoli. A woman who cared about you so much that her last words were for you. She went to greater lengths to keep her promise than anyone would have expected."

"Stop talking like you psyching _know_ them!" Ana said.

"Can't you see, Ana?" Lucas said, looking back at his sunflower with a sad smile. "Nothing I do can make up for what I've stolen from them. No amount of apology or remorse will ever bring them back. It's hopeless." Lucas shrugged. "All of it is."

Ana growled. How _dare_ he act so resigned after Ness had sacrificed himself for Lucas' future?

"This is the biggest waste I have ever seen," Lucas said. "The amount of lives lost for nothing gained is staggering."

"You say that, but you don't look staggered," Ana said. "You look like you're dealing with this just _fine._ "

"And what else can I do?" Lucas looked back at Ana. "I'm a mess. An even bigger one than you are, and don't you already practice self-harm and fantasize about suicide?"

"Don't bring me into this!" Ana gripped her axe and stood up. "Don't-"

Ana's knees buckled under her, and she fell onto the ground. Her face slammed into the cobblestone street, and the left side of her face throbbed. When she touched her left cheek and raised it up for inspection, it was covered with blood.

"I don't want to live anymore," Lucas said. "Besides, I should pay for my sins now, shouldn't I? The Dark Dragon alone will determine the fate of my soul after I die, but I suspect that I shall burn in hell for all eternity." Lucas licked his lips. "Doesn't that sound… nice? The pain reminds me that there's still something left."

Ana snarled, bringing herself up to her hands and knees. Her arms shook and screamed at Ana to stop, but she reveled in the pain and kept her eyes trained on Lucas.

"You don't have any strength left," Lucas said. "Could you even kill me if you wanted to?"

"Of course." Ana's arms continued to wobble. "When I'm done with you, you'll wish…"

"I already have many wishes," Lucas said. "But how they wither and fall."

Lucas sighed, plucking the petals off of his sunflower.

"One by one, dreams die and hopes spiral downward. Until…"

Lucas plucked off the last petal, leaving the flower with nothing but the fuzzy part in the middle and the stem.

"The flower still functions as normal," Lucas said. "It can still send off pollen and accept other plants' pollen to create seeds. But without the petals, this flower is ugly. Nobody likes it, and none of the animals will pollinate it. Despite it still functioning, once I strip it away from everything alluring about it…" Lucas smiled. "It's useless."

Lucas plucked the head of the flower off of the stem and tossed it onto the street.

"And goodbye," Lucas said, prying his fingers inside and pulling the stem apart into two pieces. "That is what happened to me, Ana. I am a living human, but there's nothing about me that anyone, including myself, would like to stay. Thus, all I need is for my head to be removed before I am _exactly_ like this flower. Do you wish to do the honors?"

"You mean…" Ana tried to read Lucas' nonchalant expression for something deeper. "You want me to _actually_ cut your head off?"

"I thought that it would be fitting," Lucas said with a shrug. "Slice my head off and toss it aside like the piece of garbage I am. Why, did you have another idea in mind? Would you like to tear me apart limb by limb?"

"I… don't really have the strength for that," Ana said.

"Yes, I figured as much. Best not to delay too long for the purposes of fanciness alone."

 _Okay, is there anything in the entire universe that fazes this kid?_

"Look at me, Ana," Lucas said. "I killed Ness. I killed Tracy. I killed Venus. I killed all of those psions back on Vulcan. I nearly killed you twice. I killed thousands of innocent people. Don't you want me to die?"

"I do," Ana said. "You just scare me."

"Well, then don't let me." Lucas walked next to Ana and lay down on the ground. His neck came right up to her knees. "Just see me as an ordinary child and chop my head off. I can specifically command my psionic aura _not_ to protect me if you tell me what's coming. I'll die just as easily as anyone else."

Ana examined the ectoplasmic axe in her hands. Could she really kill Lucas when he was in no position to harm her? Ana closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Yes, she could. This was the monster who killed Ness, Tracy, Venus, and thousands of others. It wasn't even that Ana hated him; she simply couldn't trust him to keep this level of humanity. If someone else removed the sword from his chest, would he turn back into a mindless killer? Considering the harm that he could cause, Ana wouldn't let that happen.

 _You always try to justify your actions and make it seem like you're a saint,_ a part of Ana's mind told her. _But be honest. You just want to see that pretty little head fly off of his shoulders._

Ana sighed. She supposed that it didn't matter _why_ she wanted him head; if his death could prevent the reaping of countless more lives, Ana wouldn't feel bad about this. She opened her eyes to see Lucas tilting his head and looking at her.

"You seem to have made up your mind," Lucas said.

"Close your eyes," Ana said, raising her axe. "I'll make this quick."

It was almost scary how quickly Lucas followed her instruction.

Ana held her axe up to his throat before raising the weapon again. She took another look at his face and immediately regretted it. With his closed eyes and the slight smile dancing on his lips, he almost looked peaceful. Ana reminded herself that this was the person who killed people she loved, people she had sworn to protect.

And of course, he killed thousands of nameless faces. Ana couldn't let herself forget about the sheer death toll that resulted from this boy's decision to become a savant.

Ana steeled herself to prepare the final blow.

He was psyching _smiling._

 _He wants to die,_ Ana thought. _I can see his eyes moving under his eyelids, almost like he's dreaming. I bet he's clinging onto the few fond memories left to him before he goes…_

What would Ness think of that?

 _It doesn't psyching matter! Ness is dead. He can't help anyone because of Lucas._

Ana grimaced. More than anything, Ness wanted to help people. What would he say if he saw Ana preparing to kill someone he had worked so hard to save?

 _It… doesn't… matter!_

Ness couldn't save Lucas from his grave. It was too late for him to do anything, and it was all Lucas' fault. If Lucas wanted to be saved, he shouldn't have killed the only person good enough to help him.

 _And did you learn nothing? Did he die in vain?_

Yes, he _did_ die in vain. That was exactly the problem!

"Well?" Lucas said, his eyes remaining shut. "I believe that I am still alive. Isn't it time for you to remedy that?"

 _Remedy_ Lucas' life. He viewed his own existence as an illness… and Ana couldn't really object to that notion.

But what about Ness? She said that he couldn't save anyone now that he was dead, but his hands reached up from the grave and saved at least one life.

In his final act, Ness had instilled Lucas with enough guilt to make him sloppy and not put in his full effort while fighting Ana. The way that he haunted Lucas went back to save Ana's life.

Was he haunting her now to save Lucas' life?

The next moment, Ana heard the sound of her axe clattering across the ground. She gasped, reaching her arm out to retrieve the axe…

Her arm didn't move.

 _What?_ Ana thought. _I… move, you stupid limb! It's all you're good for._

Her arm shook in front of her.

 _Grrr…_

Ana bared her teeth at nobody in particular, reaching out with her shaky hand and grabbing the axe. The ectoplasm felt colder than usual, sending chills up her arm. She clasped onto the weapon with two hands and raised it above her head.

She took one last look at Lucas' face. With his peaceful smile, he really _did_ look like a child about Ana's age rather than a hardened killer. His soft expression reminded Ana of… of…

A searing pain tore through Ana's head. The next moment, she was looking at Ness' face on the ground instead of Lucas'. He wore that smile that she always envied, the calm one that he showed when he finally stopped acting nervous around her. He didn't boast his grin and show it off to the world, but he didn't bother to hide it, either. In that moment, Ness' face attached to Lucas' body looked genuinely happy. Ana hardly knew how to interpret the emotion anymore.

After a flash, the illusion was gone, and she saw Lucas' face on the body lying down in front of her once more. But that smile… she couldn't help but picture the way Ness looked so psyching _happy_ with his lot in life, despite bullies, prejudice, and bitter classwork.

It couldn't end this way. Ana wouldn't let herself fall to weakness.

But here Ness was, straying another hand.

"Lucas," Ana said. "You should really go crawl into a hole and die. But I…" Ana tossed her axe aside. "I can't be the one to end your life. There's been enough death today."

Lucas' eyes shot open. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Ana couldn't bear to look at his face for another moment.

"Leave," Ana said. "I never want to see you again."

"But Ana…"

"Go!"

A pause.

"I don't have anywhere _to_ go. If you set me free, I'll just find a weapon and kill myself."

"We're the same, Lucas. Ness' kindness wove its way into our minds and poisoned us. You couldn't kill me and I can't kill you. He…" Ana balled her hands into fists. "I want to be alone."

"The same…" Lucas chuckled. "I guess we are. Two people who can no longer kill. That's all we were ever good at, wasn't it?"

"GET YOUR PSYCHING ASS AWAY FROM HERE!"

Ana's throat burned form yelling those words at the top of her lungs. After she finished, neither her nor Lucas made a sound. Ana looked at the rows of colorful shops on either side of the street, resolving not to turn around and see Lucas' face ever again in the rest of her life.

"Please," Ana said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I can't stand to be with anybody else right now."

"Okay," Lucas said. "I have another answer I need to find anyway. Do you know where my brother is?"

"By now? Probably fighting starmen somewhere. I don't know."

"All right." Ana heard the sounds of footsteps moving away from her. "I need to find out why he killed our mother."

After the sound of Lucas' footsteps disappeared completely, Ana buried her face in her hands and started sobbing.

"I can't…" Ana took a breath. "I was too weak to kill him. I had one job. I promised myself that I would either kill Lucas or die trying. But I couldn't even do either of those."

Ana continued sobbing.

"I can't do anything right. No matter how hard I try, I just can't…"

Ana screamed as loud as she could. She opened up her lungs and yelled at the outside universe, unable to determine what the universe had done to wrong her but sure that it had cheated her in some way. Ana screamed until her throat grew so raw that she couldn't make a sound above a whisper.

It didn't help.

Well, if even releasing her anger to the outside universe didn't make it go away, Ana had one final trick to make the pain stop.

It was a simple application of neuroscience, actually. The central nervous system relegated different sources of pain to different levels of importance and would often override smaller sources of pain. If Ana suffered a deep cut across her thigh, she probably wouldn't feel much if she stubbed her toe right after.

So to eliminate the pain of self-hatred, Ana only had to make her body feel _more_ pain in an entirely different way so that she could ignore the nagging voices in the back of her head. The pain itself didn't bother Ana. If she could distract her body from how much she hated _everything_ about herself, than any physical pain she suffered would be an afterthought.

Ana reached down to her hip and pulled out a knife that glistened in the light of the Ceresian sun. She looked at the blade, rotating it and caressing it with her hand. She and this knife had been companions for quite some time now. They helped each other out more often than real friends would.

The scars on Ana's left arm started to itch. The practically _begged_ her to cut them all open again. Ana smiled to herself. She could do better.

Ana stabbed herself in the shoulder and ran her knife all the way down her arm and up to her wrist. The knife was psionically enchanted to punch through steel, so even cutting through her bones proved effortless. She smiled as her vision turned red. She could feel the warm blood spilling all over her arm and dripping off her fingers, landing on the ground with a _plip plop._

For Ana, the pain was meditative. She was always worrying about _something,_ and those worries piled up on her until it became difficult to physically move her body. But now, none of her fears and stresses could bug her any longer. It was just her and the pain, two entities that needed each other to function.

Before long, she started laughing. Other people criticized her self-harm, but they didn't know that this is the only way Ana could be free. General Kim told her to open up her heart, to embrace her desire to inflict pain. He told her that it would lift a great weight off of her chest.

He was right. Ana felt amazing when she was inflicting pain. And at least this way, she couldn't hurt anyone other than herself. If people insisted on attacking her for the practice, she couldn't stop them, but this was light years better than the alternative.

Ana sliced through more of her flesh, moving the knife up and down her arm several times, releasing a sigh each time she cut open a new wound. She closed her eyes and focused on her heartbeat. Just her and the pumping sound of blood flowing through her veins… Well, that and the flash of pain that came along with blood spilling out of her wound each time her heart pounded.

She opened her eyes after a few minutes to see that the world was swirling around her. She could vaguely feel herself rocking back and forth, struggling to sit up.

 _Okay,_ Ana thought, surprising herself with her ability to stay rational. _I think I've lost a lot of blood. I normally don't hurt myself this much. I just need to patch myself up with psionics and…_

A wave of dread washed over Ana.

 _Psych. I'm out of energy, aren't I?_

The corners of her vision began to darken.

 _Is anyone out there? Jeff?_

Another _thud_ of her heart and more blood spilled out of her arm.

 _Please…_

In the back of her mind, Ana heard the sound of her body hitting the ground. She knew that she was about to take her final breaths before saying goodbye to this world.

 _At least I get to see my parents and Ness again. I know that cognitive sprits are real, even if I'm not sure about heaven or God. But I'm not sure they love me anymore._

The darkness consumed Ana's vision.

 _I'm not sure anyone's ever loved me._

The last thing Ana registered before falling unconscious was the sound of footsteps approaching her.

* * *

 **Quick note that Ana's "neuroscience" about overriding pain is only true for** _ **physical**_ **pain. Here, she's just using it as an excuse to inflict self-harm. Which is serious, by the way, and not just because of what happens here. I had to decide between the story being true to Ana's thoughts and ensuring that I make it clear that her self-harm is not therapeutic and is absolutely something people should talk about with mental health professionals. I ended up going more with the staying true to Ana's PoV end of the spectrum, so I'm saying here that she is suffering from mental health illnesses and should really be seeking help.**

 **Same with Lucas and his suicidal wishes as well. This conversation between Ana and Lucas might be the darkest I've ever gone in my writing, honestly, but I think it at least has a purpose to show how broken both Ana and Lucas are, which propels them into the final act of the story.**

 **I really wanted to make sure that Ness' influence was felt all throughout the rest of the story, because he _is_ a main character. Having Ness guilt Lucas into not killing Ana is pretty predictable and standard, but with him I was also able to turn things around and have him guilt Ana into not killing Lucas. Just seemed like the Ness thing to do. **

**Lloyd:** Also Emperor George. One of Minerva Carpainter's experiments trapped him inside the body of a Vulcanese boy named Lloyd. We see here that he wanted Ness to play a role in the final parts of his plan, but Ness is dead so where will he go next?


	40. Chapter 36: Alone

_When I found out that Lorraine wanted the power of Giygas, we led a revolution. Lorraine promised to bring peace and prosperity to the Osohe, but she became too powerful to trust._

 _She used that power against us._

 _We lost the war miserably, and the city of Faldin vanished off of the face of the planet._

 _And what she did to the survivors… it chills me to the bone. Lorraine turned me into a literal stone, and my memory is fading quickly. The others have already forgotten who they were, and now take on the shape of little blue creatures who call themselves "Tenda."_

 _Kumatora… I'm glad you got out with your life and sanity._

* * *

The golden light from the pond danced on Kumatora's pale face. She stared off into the bright greens of the forest.

"…Did you ever know your mother, Jeff?" Kumatora said.

"No. I met someone during the Shard's trial who claimed to be my mother, but I don't know if that was real."

"I'm just wondering," Kumatora said, "What parents are _supposed_ to act like."

"I wouldn't know," Jeff said. "My father never paid me much mind. He killed himself because he lost his sister and claimed to have nobody left, but I'm still here."

Jeff grimaced, looking around the area for something he could take his anger out on. He picked up a white rock next to the golden pond and squeezed it until his fingers hurt, feeling the rock's silky texture as it glided over his skin.

"I guess we're in the same boat," Kumatora said. "Although I remember bits about my father. He cared about me, I think. But one day, he just disappeared." Kumatora shook her head. "Anything happening with Ana since she knocked him out of his savantism?"

Jeff focused his attention back over to the screen over the left lens of his glasses. It depicted Ana closing her eyes while she touched the scars on her left arm.

"Kuma," Jeff said. "Did Ana mention anything about self-harm to you? The scars on her arm made it look like she stabbed herself."

"No." Kumatora frowned. "I didn't picture her struggling with that stuff."

"I guess…" On the screen, Jeff couldn't tell if Ana was smiling or grimacing. "I recall hearing Morgan Lorune say something about Ana stabbing herself. Maybe she was hiding more pain behind that smile of hers than we realized."

"Nah," Kumatora said. "Ana's a tough girl. I can't see her becoming depressed and harming herself like that."

 _Oh?_ Jeff thought. _Just because someone's strong, they're not allowed to suffer?_

"But who knows?" Kumatora said. "I was never close to her. Maybe her confidence was all a lie."

Jeff saw Ana reaching for a knife at her hip. His heart skipped a beat.

"She's going to stab herself now," Jeff said. "What do I do?"

"Tell her to stop," Kumatora said. "Duh. We can't have her in pieces while she tries to help Lucas."

 _So it's about us and what we need from her now, is it?_ Jeff thought. _I've been there, Ana. I don't know how much I can blame you for feeling like this._

"Jeff!"

"All right, all right." Jeff looked into the screen. "Stop!"

Ana's arm jerked away from the knife. She opened her eyes and looked back at her scars.

"Please," Jeff said. "Try to reason with Lucas some more."

"Psych," Kumatora said. "I didn't expect to babysit two downers. Hopefully we can get both Ana and Lucas up on their feet before they depress each other out."

 _Yeah, literally,_ Jeff thought. _I don't think that Ana has the strength to physically stand up right now._

A bird chirped what sounded like a warning call in the distance. Moments later, a rainbow array birds flocked towards the area behind Jeff. He turned around to see Lorraine standing at the exit to the woods with the birds perched on her right arm.

"Hello, Jeff," Lorraine said, cracking a smile. "I'm glad to see that my daughter isn't alone in this empty world."

 _Empty world?_ Jeff thought. _Does she mean this special realm of hers or the entire universe?_

"Hey, mom," Kumatora said, her voice uneasy. "How did it go with those starmen?"

"Fine," Lorraine said. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

Lorraine and Kumatora looked at each other for several moments. The birds fell silent. The shimmering golden light from the pond was the only indication that time hadn't frozen. After the pause, The screen over the left lens of Jeff's glasses cracked in two and fell to the ground.

"Ana!" Jeff shouted, looking at the broken pieces of the screen on the ground. "Are you…?"

The screen couldn't have broken by chance, and he doubted that Kumatora would wreck it right after giving it to Jeff. He turned towards Lorraine, trying his best to keep his expression neutral.

"Kumatora," Lorraine said. "Didn't I teach you that you shouldn't steal? Taking a Franklin Badge and running off to a place radiating psionic power… it almost makes me suspect something, dear."

"Just showing Jeff the sights of Faldin," Kumatora said, smirking back at Lorraine. "Call it nostalgia, if you will. It seems you're quite fond of reliving old memories yourself."

Kumatora gestured to the area around her.

"Look at this. A perfect replica of the area surrounding Faldin. You just couldn't bear to let go, could you?"

"Kuma," Lorraine said. "Is that how you talk to your mother?"

 _Is this really how Osohe converse?_ Jeff thought. _They have similar notions to us humans about the ideas of the past and parenthood. I don't see how we could have evolved separately from them._

"Listen, I don't blame you for any of this," Kumatora said. "But I wanted to drink in the sights of Faldin for myself, without my mother on my heels. Jeff wanted to follow me, but he also wanted to keep an eye on his friend. I'm sorry if I worried you, but I don't think that you can fault my intentions."

"I could," Lorraine said, "But it would not be the Osohe way. We must give others the benefit of the doubt, even if it leaves us vulnerable. I trust you, Kuma… and I hope that those feelings are reciprocated."

"Of course." Kumatora offered a smug smile, crossing her arms over her chest. "I have complete faith in you, mother. I've known you for long enough to judge your character."

"Good. I'm glad that we understand each other. We are the agents of chaos, each with our own way of thinking. We must believe that are all working towards a greater good, even if others exhibit… dissonant behaviors."

 _This is all great,_ Jeff thought, _But I'm really worried about Ana._

"Now, Jeff," Lorraine said, turning towards him. "I have something I need to discuss with you. We need to be alone, unfortunately."

Jeff turned towards Kumatora, who was studying Lorraine like a predator stalking prey. What kind of mother-daughter relationship had he stumbled upon?

"So not even your daughter can join us?" Jeff asked.

"No. I understand her strengths and weaknesses well enough to know that this job is suited to you, Mr. Andonuts. I hope that I do not offend, Kuma."

"Of course not, Your Majesty," Kumatora replied in the same, formal tone.

"Excellent," Lorraine said, ignoring Kumatora's mockery. "Are you ready to head back up to the top of Prism Tower?"

 _Prism Tower?_ Jeff thought. _That must be the building that overlooked the rest of Faldin. My knees feel weak just thinking about that place._

"If it means that we can get back to Ana's fate more quickly, then by all means," Jeff said.

Lorraine smiled.

"I am glad that we are in agreement. Teleport."

* * *

Standing on top of the highest building in Faldin, Jeff wished that he had a forest here to shield him from the wind. He kept a tight hold on his glasses after he felt them start to slip from behind his ears. He once again looked down through the transparent floor at the ground below and took deep breaths.

Just a sea of green with a few bejeweled specks in the landscape. Nothing strange about that, right? No reason to be afraid.

"I see that you are still not accustomed to such heights," Lorraine said.

Jeff grimaced. He supposed that it didn't take a detective to figure it out. He wasn't really _scared_ of heights… but he couldn't deny that they made him feel uneasy. He looked over towards Lorraine, who stood in front of a clear table that Jeff had used earlier to view the outside world. The birds on her arm had disappeared.

"I'm impressed that Ana trusted you when you spoke to her through the screens," Lorraine said, resting a hand on the table. "Most people would think that they're just imagining things."

"Is that why you sent your messages to me through my portocom?" Jeff asked. "So that I would get caught up in the sense of mystery and wonder?"

"Exactly," Lorraine said. "You must be worried about her. Such a fragile flower, that one is. She only stands so tall because she is afraid of wilting."

Jeff couldn't help but feel like this was another one of Lorraine's games. There was certainly more going on beneath the surface when she talked with Kumatora earlier, and he could only assume that every word was specifically chosen to elicit some sort of reaction from Jeff.

"Why are you observing me and my patterns?" Jeff said. "In fact, why do I matter to you at all? Ever since you started sending me messages through my portocom, it seems like you've taken some sort of special interest in me. I can't fathom why."

"It's because of your intelligence and goodwill," Lorraine said. "You unlocked the secret to this realm and used its power only to aid your friends."

"So this whole thing was another test, basically?"

"Indeed." Lorraine leaned in and put a hand on Jeff's shoulder. "And you passed with flying colors."

She must have known how good it felt to hear those words. All of his life, Jeff had gotten compliments from teachers for behaving and understanding material. But he never got confirmation from his father. He had always thought that if he worked a little harder or grew a little smarter, his father would recognize his accomplishments. But that recognition never came.

And now it never would.

 _Is she trying to take advantage of my desire for approval?_ Jeff wondered. _If she could see everything about me to record in the Shard, I wouldn't put it past her._

"So what now?" Jeff said.

"I was expecting you to ask more about Ana, but I suppose that I should just show you." Lorraine motioned for Jeff to come closer. "Look at this screen."

Jeff walked up, staring at the table as he made out a man he didn't recognize carrying Ana's unconscious body. In addition to the previous scars he saw on her left arm, she carried scars from what looked like massive gashes that ran all the way from her shoulder to her wrist.

"She passed out from blood loss after cutting open her flesh," Lorraine said. "I employed some of my magic and directed this man towards her location. If he hadn't shown up, she would be dead."

"…"

"We're on the same side, Jeff. Giygas forced this pain upon Ana, and I seek to destroy Giygas once and for all. Will you aid me in my quest?"

"Aid you how?"

"Use these screens to help your friends retrieve the Sword of Kings. With that in my hands, I will have the power I need to defeat Giygas."

"And why don't you just get it yourself? Why do you even need me?"

"You're not a very trusting person, do you know that?"

"Multiple near-death situations will do that to a human like me."

"Fair enough. I need to focus all of my power on dealing with Giygas. Soon, we will both mount offensive attacks on each other, and we are essentially equal in power. I cannot devote extra energy to retrieving the Sword of Kings if I want to hold him off."

"And what's your endgame, Your Majesty? Why do you want Giygas dead?"

Lorraine's eyes narrowed. The wind howled in the background.

"He stole everything that I loved," she said.

* * *

Ninten summoned an ectoplasmic sword, feeling the cool, smooth material in his hands. While weapons made of ectoplasm looked like hardened goo, they felt like glass and cut like steel.

"Claus," Ninten said. "I don't know how we're going to match up against Mary…"

"After seeing what she did in Scaraba, I don't like our chances," Claus said, unslinging his sword.

"That's right," Mary said. The words came out in her voice, but the tone was all wrong. The smug smile on her face didn't match with the rest of her body. "You don't have a chance at all."

 _I hate to agree, but I don't see how we can face off against someone who singlehandedly razed an entire city to the ground._

Ninten's heart pounded in his chest. He drew a shaky breath.

"Claus," Ninten said. "We need to go. If we can find Diana…"

"She won't be able to save you," Mary said. "She couldn't save Fiven, and it weighs on her. That's the danger in caring about other people. Her mind will defeat herself."

"Is that what happened to you?" Claus said, holding up his sword. "Is that why you're so bitter and jaded, Fassad?"

Mary closed her eyes and sighed. The next second, a dome made of green ectoplasm appeared around Mary, Ninten, and Claus, trapping them all inside. Ninten looked over at Claus through the pale, green light that filtered through the dome. Claus growled, taking a step towards Mary.

"No running away," Mary said, opening her eyes and adopting a smirk. "I want to see you squirm, Claus. It will be a pleasure to break down someone so young and spirited. I can see the rage written on your face!" Mary laughed. "Yes, that's it. Let your rage build. You're so _amusing_ when you're angry?"

"Amusing?" Claus said. "I'll show you psyching amusing!"

Claus ran forward, swinging his sword at Mary. She dodged out of the way right before the attack would have connected.

"Missed me!"

 _Why is Fassad trying to rile Claus up?_ Ninten wondered. _If Mary's body is just as powerful as she was in Scaraba, Fassad could wipe the floor with us in a second._

Claus swung at Mary again, and she darted out of the way before tossing a knife that stuck into Claus' ankle.

"My, my," Mary said. "I love this body. It's even better than my old magypsy body. And your brother's, of course…"

"Shut the psych up!"

Claus brought his sword down on Mary, but she vanished and appeared a few feet away with a teasing smile.

"Missed me again!"

 _She's either toying with Claus because she can beat us no matter what,_ Ninten thought, _Or she's trying to get him mad because we could beat her if we work as a team._

"Claus," Ninten said. "Make sure to flank her."

Ninten didn't check for signs of confirmation. He darted in with his rapier, matching Claus' charge from the other direction. As they both neared Mary, Ninten could see quick hand motions and lip movements. Mary was manifesting some sort of psionic power, and Ninten had a pretty good guess for which one…

At the last moment before stabbing Mary, Ninten halted his charge. Just as he predicted, Mary teleported a few paces away, this time to Ninten's right. His tensed muscles and correct prediction gave him the extra few moments he needed to spring towards Mary with his sword extended.

Mary's eyes widened as she tried to dodge. Ninten altered his sword's path and the blade grazed by her side, cutting through flesh.

Mary teleported again, this time to the edge of the dome. Her psionic aura prevented Ninten from drawing blood, but she looked down at the cut in her clothes with a frown.

"You're smarter than I gave you credit for," Mary said, "Unlike the lumbering beast that you call a friend."

"Why don't you come a little closer and say that?" Claus shouted.

Mary sighed, shaking her head. The fact that she looked _disappointed_ of all things irked even Ninten.

"I guess playtime's over," she said.

Ninten heard the sound of Claus' sword land on the grass with a soft _thud._ He turned to look at his friend and saw that Claus was floating a few inches off of the ground with his arms hanging over his head. He growled and appeared to make a considerable effort to open his mouth, but his lips remained sealed shut.

"This is the power of psionics," Mary said. "This is what near savants like this body can accomplish, assuming that the person in charge knows how to use psionics. I could do anything that I want with him." Mary's smile widened. "Anything I want…"

"You're sick," Ninten said. "He defied you once to save his brother. Can't you let it go? We all piss of people and make stupid mistakes every once in a while."

"Ah, but he didn't just defy me," Mary said. "He _won._ He removed the knife out of Lucas' body. He drove my spirit back into that wretched prison. This is _revenge,_ child."

"Fassad…" Ninten clenched his fists. "Your reputation precedes you. You led the pigmasks and took Aphrodite by storm, and now I find out that you're just someone who isn't strong enough to deal with failure."

"That clever little gibe will cost your friend," Mary said.

The next moment, Claus cried out in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep his face neutral, but Ninten could see cracks in his resolve.

"You see," Mary said. "I'm the one in charge here. Me. Fassad. Locria. Whatever you want to call me. And I am going to do _whatever the hell I want_ with your friend. Do you understand me?"

"Maybe all too well," Ninten said, forcing himself not to back down in the face of Mary's glare.

* * *

"Welcome to my royal halls," Fassad said, gesturing towards the insides of Magicant's pink castle. "What brings you here, Starman Jenny?"

"I'm here to kill you," Jenny said.

Despite her physical senses usually proving weak and unspecific, Jenny was able to see all of Magicant clearly. The soft pink of the marble pillars contrasted with the sharp pink of the fluffy walls. Doors led to rooms that Jenny hadn't bothered to explore, and Fassad stood at the end of the hall with one of his signature smirks.

Instead of a wall behind Fassad at the end of the hallway, it looked like the castle just dropped off into nothingness. After a moment, Jenny saw that there _was_ a wall but that it displayed the outside world from Mary's view. On the screen wall, Ninten stood next to a red-haired boy that Jenny didn't recognize.

"I have Claus in my grasp," Fassad said. "You probably don't know this, but he caused me a lot of trouble back on Vulcan."

 _Vulcan?_ Jenny thought. _What were the two of you doing back there?_

"You say that you want to kill me," Fassad said. "But if you push me too far, I might just kill the child…"

Jenny fired a laser that sizzled as it tore a hole through Fassad's shirt and landed on his chest. Fassad's eyes widened in what Jenny recognized was shock. Jenny fired another laser, this time hitting Fassad in the head.

"You…" Fassad said, baring his teeth.

Jenny fired a third laser. She didn't have to explain anything.

"Fine!" Fassad said. "You called my bluff. I'll just remove you from the equation so that I can focus on basking in my already achieved victory."

Jenny didn't know what to make of Fassad's confidence. He could use Mary's body in the physical world to harness massive amounts of psionic energy, but none of that mattered here in Magicant. Fassad couldn't use anyone else's body to carry him through _this_ fight.

Jenny fired off another laser in response.

* * *

"So easy," Mary said, walking up and examining Claus' face. "Maybe this body _is_ better than your brother's." Mary looked down at her right hand. "So much _power_ at my fingertips. I can see why this would drive a human to turn on its own kind. You really are pitiful creatures, aren't you?"

Mary squeezed his fist and Claus let out a yelp. Ninten raised his sword and took a step towards Mary.

"If you strike me with that little pointy stick of yours," Mary said without even looking towards Ninten, "Then I will kill him, and probably you as well."

 _Psych,_ Ninten thought. _Claus really chose the wrong person to piss off back on Vulcan. And if that decision gets him killed…_

Ninten felt his jaw clench. He would _not_ let that happen. Ana was probably dead because he let her leave. He couldn't let Claus go too.

"Please," Ninten said, the word coming out as little more than a whisper. "Please don't hurt him."

"Oh, _there_ it is," Mary said, turning towards Ninten. "That pitiful tone of yours. Those beady eyes. Well, aren't you precious?"

"Please," Ninten repeated.

"Even that didn't get you riled up like your friend?" Mary raised an eyebrow. "You _must_ be desperate. But tell me honestly, why exactly should I spare him any pain? He looks ready to take it."

Ninten looked back at Claus' fiery eyes and tensed muscles. If Mary wanted to kill him, Ninten knew that Claus would devote his efforts towards spitting in her face one last time before he died.

"This is what bugs me about you humans," Mary said. "The second that someone's a threat, you get down on your knees and beg them not to hurt you. And then once they leave, you go back to overpowering others and making them plead to _you_ not to harm them. It's a savage chain of command, fit for the monkeys that you evolved from."

 _That's not even scientifically correct,_ Ninten thought.

"So I'll ask you again," Mary said. "Why should I show mercy to Claus when both of you tried to kill me?"

"I…" Ninten's words died in his throat.

"You don't have anything, do you? This is about the time when you humans turn towards those gods that you're so fond of. I may be despicable, but at least I can take my defeats without groveling so pathetically."

 _I don't believe in God,_ Ninten thought. _And even if he does exist, he let thousands of people die today. He clearly wouldn't mind if Claus joined them._

"Still nothing?" Mary shook her head. "Your emotions blind you. You humans can't see outside of your own thick skulls."

"Because you're doing a great job of that right about now," Ninten said, immediately regretting the words as they came out.

Instead of lashing back at Ninten, Mary smiled.

"I can see from other perspectives," she said. "I just don't give a psych about them. You humans often do not plan and jump into action just like a rat when it sees a slice of cheese, but the fact that you can _choose_ to plan if you wish to separates me from people like you."

"So you're saying that you see us the way we see rats?" Ninten replied.

"Exactly." Mary's smile widened. "I'm glad that you can pick up on basic implications. That's better than most of your sorry species."

 _Keep Fassad talking,_ Ninten told himself. _Maybe I can stall and hope for a miracle._

"You probably won't believe me when you hear this," Mary said, "But I don't actually _enjoy_ watching people squirm. This is just a… distraction."

Mary looked back at Claus and smiled. It sure _seemed_ like Fassad enjoyed crushing people under his foot.

"A distraction from what?"

"The solitude." Mary's smile turned sad. "My siblings died when you humans pulled the seven needles, and the Osohe that I knew and loved are all gone. Watching you idiots laugh and smile about your ignorant, stupid lives while I try my hardest not to forget just makes everything worse."

"I… actually know how you feel."

Mary snorted.

"Don't pull that horseshit on me. You're a human. A human _teenager._ You can't even understand how your own species feels most of the time because you're so jacked up on hormones."

"Please," Ninten said. "Claus is the only one left for me. I lost Paula, I lost Ana, and Poo's going to become a king. He won't have time to talk to me. For all I know, Kumatora's dead as well."

"Those names mean nothing to me."

"That's not the point. You know how it feels to lose everyone you love. If Claus dies…"

Ninten squeezed his eyes shut. Without the real world to distract him, his memories came back in full force.

 _Alone. He was always alone, locked up in his room._

 _After his grandfather suffocated him and forced him to awaken psionic powers, Ninten's father abandoned him. Threatened to kill him, even. Ana had been his only friend in Podunk, but she left years ago. Usually, the company of his sister Mimmie was enough to keep him sane._

 _But some days, she met up with friends or had softball practice or whatever. Ninten remembered hours of watching the clock tick by, sitting on his bed, looking around at the baseball posters that lined his room._

 _He always looked out the window, gauged the distance to the ground. Probably 12 feet or so, he eventually decided. All that he had to do was open the window, leap out, and land on his head so that he would crack his skull. He would never again have to worry about his parents screaming at him or his grandfather coming back for him._

 _Ninten would close his eyes. The rush of wind… the surge of falling… Ninten would be_ alive _right before he died._

"Either you're one psych of an actor or you actually have some sob story," Mary said, breaking Ninten out of his memoires. "Hm…"

Mary put a finger on her chin.

"Please," Ninten said. " _Please._ I can't…"

"Sorry, kid. You got me to care a little, but it will take more than a sappy attitude to break through 3000 years of suffering. It doesn't really matter to me _what_ becomes of me." Mary flashed a toothy smile. "Maybe I should kill you first to spare you the pain."

* * *

Starman Jenny was losing.

She computed all of the calculations, and the chance of success was so small that she already considered herself a dead starman.

So why didn't she leave?

"Listen," Fassad said, firing a beam of energy at Jenny. "I don't know why you give a psych. I'm working for your master. I'm just another one of Giygas' tools, same as you. Unless…" A sneaky smile came to Fassad's face. "You're _defective._ "

If he expected that word to hold power over her, he was sorely mistaken. Jenny continued to fire lasers and put up force shields as Fassad slung back powerful psionics.

"I'm curious," Fassad said. "Why _do_ you care?"

Jenny had seen the pain in Mary's eyes and heard the regret in her voice as she talked about her great-grandson Ninten. On the wall screen behind Fassad, Jenny saw Ninten close his eyes and wince in pain after clinging onto his friend Claus.

Such passion… Jenny wanted to learn more.

"Still not going to answer me, are you?" Fassad said. "Well, I've fought plenty of starmen in my time, and I know that you're about to go down. Any last words, Starman Jenny?"

"You may want to look behind you," Jenny said.

* * *

Out of nowhere, Ninten spotted Lucas running up to the green dome, his expression mostly neutral yet not as mechanical as Ninten had imagined. It took a couple moments for Ninten to realize that Lucas was impaled on a beautiful sword that changed colors to form a new stained glass pattern each split second.

As Lucas examined the dome, Ninten realized that he didn't _act_ like someone with a sword sticking through his chest. Even someone who fought through the pain carried a certain stiffness about them that suggested that pushing the pain to the back of their mind took up all of their effort.

In contrast, Lucas looked psyching _relaxed._

After a few seconds of tapping on the dome, Lucas turned around and grabbed onto the sword hilt in front stuck in his chest. Ninten blinked and strained his eyes for a closer look.

Lucas rammed himself backwards into the green dome. The part of his sword sticking out from his back hit the wall first, and cracks sprouted and spread around the dome.

"Ah, psych this," Mary said, waving her hand.

The next second, the dome disappeared. Colors inside returned to normal instead of appearing in different shades of green. Mary regarded Lucas with her hands crossed over her chest.

"Long time no see," Mary said. "The last time we met, I was controlling your body."

"Fassad," Lucas said. "I see you've been busy."

"Better me than Mary herself, right? She vaporized an entire psyching city."

"I suppose that you are marginally better, yes."

Ninten processed the words and all of the little implications buried within. Despite Fassad's smug demeanor while controlling Mary's body, he smiled a lot less when faced with Lucas. His expression grew flat, analytical. Lucas, on a similar note, studied Mary's body without reacting to Fassad's taunts at all.

"Hey Claus," Mary said. "You still care about your brother, right?"

Claus exhaled through his mouth. Evidently, Mary had lifted the force that squeezed Claus' lips shut so that she could hear his response.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on him, you piece of shit!" Claus said. "I swear, I'm going to-"

Claus' lips squeezed back shut. Mary chuckled.

"Now I know that you _do_ care." She turned towards Lucas. "Let's see how long you last."

(ILH)

"Hmph," Fassad said, looking back at Starman Jenny. "So your little diversion amounts to nothing. I can deal with Lucas, so long as he doesn't use his special sword." Fassad chuckled just like Mary had on screen moments earlier. "And if he does, I'll teleport away and the other children die anyway."

Jenny fired another laser at Fassad.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Fassad said, baring his teeth. "Okay, I'm through. Why did I even bother to give a _starman_ the opportunity to say their last words? PK Freeze."

At the last second before the PK Freeze would have finished Jenny off, a blue barrier appeared over her body. The ice formed over the barrier and slid off, landing on the ground and shattering.

"Wha…"

"I guess now's a good time as any to pull myself out of this pit I dug myself into."

The words didn't come from Starman Jenny or Fassad. Jenny looked behind her to see Hinawa striding into the hall, each step confident. Despite her previous tendencies to ignore any other people nearby, Hinawa's gaze never left Fassad.

"An insane woman opposing _me,_ the last magypsy," Fassad said. "What do you think that you can do?"

"You _still_ haven't figured it out?" Hinawa said, a subtle smirk popping up on her face. "My insanity was never really the issue. Guilt and shame pushed me to hurt myself even past death, and a little bit of acting sprinkled in never hurts."

"Okay, so you're a secretly well-adjusted normal woman." A flame appeared in Fassad's hand. "So what?"

"Why was I insane in the first place?" Hinawa said. putting a finger on her chin and looking up at the ceiling. "I almost remember something about mystics developing schizophrenia. And maybe this mystic has a vision of victory in sight."

Fassad's eyes widened. Hinawa looked back at Fassad, and her eyes glaze over with a purple light. Jenny knew that indicated a mystic trance, in which special psions could predict the future. Such trances usually came randomly and usually rendered the mystic unconscious, but they could be controlled with enough practice.

"You will never hurt one of my children again," Hinawa said, psychic power crystallizing at her fingertips.

"Please," Fassad said, taking a step backwards. "This is all one big misunder-"

"PK Love," Hinawa whispered, almost too quietly to hear.

The next second, the hall exploded.

* * *

Lucas darted towards Mary. Ninten raised his hand and opened his mouth, but no words came out. One savant alone had destroyed an entire city; what would happen when two titans clashed?

Mary froze still.

Lucas skidded to a halt in front of the woman, his eyebrow furrowed as he examined her. Claus fell to the ground, free from Mary's psionic grasp. He sucked in deep breaths of air through his mouth.

"Doesn't look like a trick," Lucas said with a shrug.

* * *

Jenny looked at the wreckage around her. What once made up the castle of Magicant lay as a pile of fluffy, pink rubble.

"Hmm," Hinawa said. "I guess I didn't do a great job of controlling PK Love. Such a volatile move…"

Fassad dug himself out from amidst the soft, pink rocks. He looked at Hinawa with wide eyes.

"No!" Fassad said. "I lost control!"

Since Hinawa had busted the room, Jenny could now see the screen in the sky that displayed Mary's field of vision. Jenny saw that Mary's body remained stationary. Nobody controlled it.

"I…" Fassad teleported away.

"He will not be able to focus with the emotions that I awoke in his heart," Hinawa said. "At least, that was the plan. I didn't mean to bring the entire building down."

"At least your children are safe."

"From Fassad. Not from each other."

Starman Jenny transmitted the equivalent of a frown. Why would two brothers want to harm each other? Did they not carry part of each other's genome to pass down?

"Do you want to take control of the body?" Jenny said. "I don't particularly need it."

"Can't trust myself," Hinawa said. "This is a rare moment of lucidity for me. The pain and guilt drive me to do stupid things, and while the insanity isn't as much of a hassle as most people would think…" Hinawa scratched her head. "It doesn't really _help._ "

"I'll make sure not to harm your children," Jenny said. "I wouldn't want you coming after me the same way you took out Fassad."

"Funny," Hinawa said. "I didn't know that a starman could 'want' anything. I guess you're special."

"I guess I am," Jenny said.

"Do me a favor," Hinawa said. "When the time is right, yank the Sword of Kings out of Mary's body."

"If I do, I don't know if I can keep it out," Jenny said. "Her body craves its spirit. Even when I signal mental commands to leave the sword alone…"

"That's why you have to pick the right time," Hinawa said. "Promise me, Jenny."

"Starmen don't make promises."

"Promise me." Hinawa held out a hand.

After a moment, Jenny extended a tentacle arm outward. Hinawa grabbed onto the arm and looked at Jenny's head.

"I… will perform as requested," Jenny said.

"Thank you," Hinawa said. "Now you should probably get back to work with the body."

Jenny nodded. She turned off her physical senses and imagined sitting in the driving seat in front of the body's controls. The next moment, she could feel herself starting to float away.

"Part of you will stay here," Hinawa said, "But goodbye, I guess."

Jenny opened her eyes, seeing a field of grass that swayed in the wind and three boys standing in front of her.

Jenny was human once more.

* * *

"Teleport," Mary said, coming to life in front of Ninten.

Even in the split second that she remained, her demeanor changed. The general lack of expression on her face reminded Ninten of a starman. Maybe Jenny was controlling the body again.

The former Empress Mary vanished into thin air.

"Huh," Claus said, touching the air where Mary stood a moment before. "Didn't see that coming."

Lucas darted forward and snatched Claus' sword from his hands. Lucas pointed the blade at his brother while Claus looked at Lucas in shock.

"Tell me," Lucas said, shoving the sword closer to Claus. "Before I die, I have to know. Why did you kill mom?"

"Oh," Claus said. "That question."

"I thought you said that the starmen killed her," Ninten said.

"That was a lie," Lucas said, "And not a very good one."

"What do you want me to say, Lucas?" Claus shook his head.

"I want you to tell me the truth."

"You won't like the truth."

"Try me."

Claus' expression turned dead serious. He looked his brother straight in the eye with enough intensity that Ninten shrunk backwards.

"What happened is a little different than you think," Claus said.

* * *

"Hello," Lorraine Olva Var Entaire said, popping back up on the top of Prism Tower. "Did I miss anything important?"

"You were only gone for a few minutes," Jeff said, raising his voice so that he could hear himself over the wind.

"A few minutes is a long time for a chronicler like me not to be watching the world."

"Well, Your Majesty," Jeff said. "When I booted up the screen to look at the Sword of Kings, there was some drama with Mary's body in the four different spirits inside. The sword is still stuck inside of her body."

"Hmm," Lorraine said. "Well, we have some time to get it. Once it's in my hands, we'll be able to get rid of Giygas once and for all."

"I look forward to that day," Jeff said.

"As do I." Lorraine smiled and walked up to the table screen Jeff was looking at. "Mind if I show you something?"

"Not at all, your majesty."

Lorraine waved her hand, and the screen switched to show a different scene. At first, Jeff didn't notice anything odd. It looked like a large scale view of some of Ceres' crystalline buildings. Jeff's eyes fixated on the way that the purple and blue crystals shimmered in the light of the Ceresian sun.

"Look," Lorraine said, pointing to a black dot floating in the distance.

"What's that?" Jeff said.

"Giygas."

Jeff took a moment to comprehend Lorraine's answer. He had seen Giygas before, but the Giygas that he looked at wasn't entirely physical. Jeff had always considered Giygas to be more of an aura than anything else.

So Giygas had a physical body. And it wasn't a large one, Jeff guessed by the scale of the image. Either he was _really_ far away or he wasn't much larger than a starman.

"Pay attention," Lorraine said.

Moments later, thousands of dark purple dots popped out of nowhere, lining the ground in the distance. It looked like a dark wave that spread across the area right outside the Ceresian city.

"That's not the ground, is it?" Jeff said.

"No, Giygas wouldn't just change the color of the ground like that. Each one of those dots you see is a starman."

Jeff's heart skipped a beat.

"Starmen are grey," Jeff said. "Not dark purple. Not the color of death."

"The starmen that _you_ know are grey. These are the ghosts of starmen."

"The… what?"

"Even after a starman dies, they retain their spirit, same as humans. Giygas found a way to translate psionic matter—that is to say spiritual matter—into physical matter. These are the psionic essences of starmen torn away from their native plane of existence and put into the physical universe."

"That's… possible?" Jeff said.

"I created the Osohe by brining over spirits of dead humans," Lorraine said. "Why did you think that we were so similar?"

"So you started all this."

"Please. My only mistake was not disguising the process for my first few Osohe. When Giygas captured Kumatora, he could see in her code exactly how I managed to move spirits over to the physical universe. It didn't take long for him to replicate the process, apparently."

"That's insane," Jeff said. "Bringing spirits over from the dead back to the universe of the living? It sounds like either pseudoscience or mythology."

"Well, you don't have to believe me," Lorraine said. "Look at what comes next."

Jeff looked back at the dark purple dots and saw them swarming around the area where Lorraine had originally pointed out Giygas.

"It's like a hive," Jeff said, "With Giygas at the center. The rest of the starmen are just drone bees."

"It gets worse," Lorraine said.

Jeff looked back at the screen and saw that the starman swarm was starting to adopt a non-spherical shape. It almost looked like the outline of…

Jeff gasped.

"That's a person," he said. "The starmen are forming together to make a psyching _person._ "

"A person is a stretch," Lorraine said, "But you got the gist of it. It is like a school of fish. They all swim together in a specific pattern. But with Giygas at their head, the starmen can make any shape that they want to."

Jeff could begin to see the creature that the starmen were creating with their bodies alone. It did look like a person, except that it had three legs that jutted out from a center waist.

And more importantly, it was _massive._

"So the starmen line up to form a specific three-dimensional shape of something that looks kind of like a person," Jeff said. "But why? Wouldn't a simple blob be more efficient? Every starman can shuffle forward, so it's not like they have to use the actual giant legs of the person to move."

"Perceptive," Lorraine said. "But, you see, Giygas doesn't intend on keeping those starmen alive."

Eventually, the starmen stopped moving, and Jeff was left staring at a massive, dark purple monster with three legs that carried a sword longer than a skyscraper in one hand and a shorter blade in the other. The whole thing was _entirely formed out of starmen bodies,_ sword, legs, head, and all.

"Giygas sucked all of the life out of those starmen," Lorraine said. "So now he has massive amounts of psionic energy to play with, and he gets to control a titan made out of starmen corpses."

"How do they stick together?" Jeff said. "Does it just happen naturally?"

"I'm guessing Giygas added that on when he brought those specific starmen over from the psionic realm," Lorraine said. "But it doesn't really matter."

Giygas had the psionic energy harvested from thousands of starmen _and_ controlled a robot warrior that stood as tall as a 20 story building? How could they possibly beat him now?

Giygas' titan machine took a step forward with each of its three legs, crushing buildings that the legs landed on.

"Well, looks like he can control the titan," Lorraine said. "That's what I'm going to call that lump of starman corpses he's wielding, by the way."

 _Call it whatever you want,_ Jeff thought, _Just please think of some way to deal with it!_

"Are you panicking already?" Lorraine said. "Come on, put some faith in me. I've already matched Giygas' plan."

"Matched his plan? What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that he's not the only one who can create a lumbering warrior that towers over most buildings in the city."

The ground underneath Jeff started shaking. He held onto his glasses with one hand and the table with the other.

"What are you-"

"The Shard of Ceres was always more than just an information source and a nice hiding place for this realm," Lorraine said. She smiled, looking into Jeff's eyes. "Its crystals are also an excellent source of energy."

"That doesn't explain the ground shaking!"

"It doesn't." Lorraine's smile deepened.

Slowly at first, and then more rapidly, the entire realm where he and Lorraine stood in started to rise up.

"No," Jeff said. "You can't mean to say-"

"I'll let you have a guess?"

"You're turning the Shard of Ceres into a titan just like Giygas'."

"Close." Lorraine put a hand on Jeff's shoulder. "The Shard was _always_ a titan just like Giygas'."

 **End of Part 6**

* * *

 **Ana is okay. :) Just like Luigi from that smash direct, amirite?**

 **I think I was playing through Xenoblade Chronicles when writing this draft, and I was amazed by the Bionis and Mechnois (giant titans that act as continents for people living on them), so I took some inspiration for that here. Giygas has a behemoth made out of starmen while Lorraine has one made out of psychic crystal. It's time for the final battle to begin. And don't worry, we'll hear from other characters like Poo who have been absent for a while.**

 **But immediately after this we have interlude flashbacks. The first one belongs to Mimmie, and the second one belongs to Lucas. I'll say that I've been planning this Lucas interlude since the prologue of the first Ceres, so I hope that you enjoy it! :)**


	41. Interlude: Mimmie

**One year ago**

"Thanks for all of your help with fundraising, Pippi," Minnie said. "How many boxes did we sell together?"

"20 caramel popcorn and 16 kettle corn I think." Pippi flicked back a hair braid. "I bet nobody else even got close."

Mimmie looked down at the ground, staring at the dirt road as she walked next to her sister Minnie and Pippi, a family friend. 36 boxes of caramel popcorn basically covered one per household in a town like Podunk; she suspected that many people bought from both Pippi and Minnie not knowing that they were working together.

"How many did you sell, Mimmie?" Pippi asked, peeking over.

Yeah. Just make yourself look good, Pippi. It's not like Mimmie had feelings or anything.

"Well?" Pippi said. "It's just a number."

"Four," Mimmie said, holding up four fingers. "I only sold…"

"Well, that's okay," Pippi said. "It's all for our school, right?"

 _Easy for you to say,_ Mimmie thought. _You didn't hesitate before going up to every door and knocking._

"Pippi," Minnie said, ignoring her twin sister. "We're going to your house for a play-date, right? So we go that way?"

Minnie pointed at a house in the near distance. Mimmie stared at the yellow wood of her house and a pang ran through her chest. A play-date… and she wasn't invited.

"Yeah, let's go!" Pippi said. "See you later, Mimmie."

"Uh… goodbye." Mimmie managed a tentative wave.

By then, Pippi and Mimmie were already off skipping towards the perfect yellow house, talking in bright tones and forgetting about the person ten feet behind them.

"Oh…" Mimmie said, mostly to herself. "Okay then. I guess I'll… just go home."

The house was eerily quiet by the time that Mimmie got back. She walked up and knocked on the door twice before recoiling her hand backwards. What if she ran into bad people lurking around their house and she didn't have anyone to call upon?

"You can come in, Mimmie," came her father's rough voice.

Mimmie gulped and swung the door open. Her father sat in the corner of the room, reading a newspaper. She had never really gotten used to seeing someone who looked so much like a burly gang leader sit and read the news like a regular dad.

But then again, he poured over each word with such intensity that Mimmie always wondered if the black letters had slighted him somehow. She didn't think that it was normal for dads to be so harsh about even _reading._

"How did you know that it was me?" Mimmie asked.

"You knock a specific way," her father said.

"Are mom and Ninten home?"

"Mom's out shopping. Ninten's up in his room, as usual." Her father sighed, shaking his head. "Can't get that kid to spend a psyching _minute_ outside."

 _And can you blame him for hiding in his room after you beat him so badly last week that he couldn't walk for days?_ Mimmie thought.

"Okay." Mimmie walked over to the staircase, keeping her eyes pinned on her father for danger signs.

He didn't even look up.

Mimmie scaled the staircase, trying to keep her pace moderate so that it wouldn't sound like she was fleeing. She breathed a sigh of relief upon reaching the top. She looked down the hallway and saw the white door at the end with wooden letters glued on to spell the word "Ninten."

Mimmie took a deep breath, walked up, and knocked.

"Mimmie?" Ninten said. "Is that you?"

"Yeah. Minnie's out on a play-date with Pippi. Is it okay if I come in?"

"Sure. I…"

"Ninten. Is something wrong?"

"I guess that depends on how you see it."

Mimmie rolled her eyes and opened the door, revealing Ninten lying down on his bed with eyes closed. She looked over at the picture of his little league team on his dresser; out of everyone in the picture, Ninten wore the biggest smile. And since that picture had been taken so long ago that Mimmie was older than Ninten in the photo… well, she could admit to herself that she could see why other parents thought he looked cute as a little kid with that grin plastered across his face.

Real-life Ninten sat up and regarded Mimmie. When she looked into his eyes, she saw a quiet pain that made him look years older than usual.

"So… you weren't invited to the play-date?" Ninten said.

"I'm practically invisible to them," Mimmie said. "I mean, Pippi's always nice, but… I don't think she _cares._ "

"Well, the joke's on them," Ninten said, a weak smile breaking through. "All of the _really_ cool kids are 'hanging out' these days."

After the halfhearted attempt to lighten the conversation, Ninten sighed and his shoulders sagged. Taking a closer look, Mimmie could see dark circles under his eyes. What had he been doing to himself?

"I can't…" Ninten said, looking out the window and gazing at the sky. "Do you ever feel like no matter what you do, the world will never be _right?_ "

Mimmie opened her mouth, but no words came out.

"It's too hard." Ninten turned back around to face Mimmie but averted his gaze. "I remember when I was overjoyed to see you at the end of every school day and so psyching _angry_ whenever I heard dad's voice. Now… nothing." Ninten closed his eyes. "I can still hear my heartbeat, but it only pumps ice through my veins."

"Please don't swear," Mimmie said. "I mean…" She bit the inside of her mouth, feeling warm blood pooling up in her cheek sac.

"It's okay," Ninten said. "It reminds you of dad, doesn't it?" Ninten chuckled, looking at his little league photo that he examined earlier. "I used to be the happiest kid in the world. What happened to me, Mimmie?"

"Well, Ana left, and then…" Ninten _still_ hadn't told her about why he came back with psionic powers and a dark outlook on the world.

"Yeah, and then I met our grandfather, who took me to awaken my psionic powers. Imagine someone with the toughness and harsh nature of dad who's also dead inside and can inflict pain with the snap of his fingers."

Mimmie's ears perked up. This was more than she had ever heard about the incident before.

"I wasn't supposed to get psionic powers, you know?" Ninten said. "Dad didn't want me getting wrapped up in any of that stuff. So when I did, I became a failure. That's why he stopped homeschooling me and made me go to public school."

"I… didn't know that."

"Not that any of it really matters," Ninten said. "So how did your fundraising go? Good use of a Saturday morning?"

"More like a waste of time."

Ninten laughed, but it sounded hollow.

"You missed me, didn't you?" Mimmie said. "For those few hours while I was gone, it made you sad."

Ninten looked away.

"You can be honest with me, Ninten. I know that you get lonely when I leave."

"I'm not that weak."

"Weak?"

"I don't want to hold you back. You should be able to go out and have fun with friends without worrying about me." Ninten forced a smile. "Divine Rulers know that you worry enough about me as it is."

"But you _need_ me," Mimmie said. After a pause, she blushed. "I didn't mean it like that. But you need someone, and I'm here." She reached out and put a hand on his leg. "I'm here, Ninten."

"You shouldn't _have_ to be." Ninten stood up and went back to the window. "But you're right, as usual. Ana left me, mom never cared about me, and I'm a failure to dad. Even Minnie ignores both of us unless I try to make her mad. That's part of the reason why I take jabs at her, you know? At least her scowls and sneers are _something._ "

"I…" Psych it, why did the words always freeze in Mimmie's throat when she needed them the most.

"You're the only one I have left," Ninten said. "When you leave…"

Ninten opened the window and stuck his head out.

"What are you doing?" Mimmie said. "Please tell me you're not thinking about…"

"So easy," Ninten said. "If I jumped out and cracked my skull, I would probably be dead before anyone could save me. I wouldn't have to be a failure or a burden to _anyone._ "

"Ninten, I'm sorry that I left you! I'm back now. Please, I promise that-"

"This isn't your fault." Ninten sucked in a breath of air. "I'm sorry, Mimmie. It just kills me to see you taking this out on yourself when you're so wonderful. But play with me for a second here. Why _shouldn't_ I kill myself?"

"Because it's crazy!" Mimmie shouted. "You can't just…"

"That's what people tell you," Ninten said. "Even the Catholic church preaches that you'll burn for all eternity if you take your own life. But why would they have to do that? Why ban something in the first place?" Ninten looked back at Mimmie. "It's because suicide is so _tempting._ "

"Ninten, please…"

"Any other reasons?"

"You'll feel fine tomorrow. This will all seem silly. Please, don't throw everything away."

"I feel like that _should_ matter, but…" Ninten shook his head. "But today is just as valuable as tomorrow. I know that you see me as the same person who smiled in this stupid picture," Ninten tapped his little league photo, "But this part of me is just as real. This is still _me,_ Mimmie, not just some curse talking."

"But… you can't…"

"Is that all you have?"

"I'll be sad!" Mimmie said. "You mean the world to me. Really, Ninten."

"You feel that way now, but it will probably serve you better to form a bond with someone who's _not_ dragging you down. Think about how much free time you'd have if you didn't have to take care of me anymore."

"I don't want time. I want you."

"You'd find someone else." Ninten waved his hand dismissively. "I'm just-"

"I rely on you," Mimmie interrupted, "Just as much as you rely on me."

Ninten's paused

"I know that you beat yourself up for needing other people and failing dad," Mimmie said. "I know that just makes you need me even more. But I need you too! Just _look_ at me, Ninten. I blend into any crowd. I might as well be _invisible._ I…" Mimmie choked back tears. "I feel the same way you do. I want to be told that I'm kind and special and not a worthless piece of _shit._ "

"You…"

"Yes, I used a swear word! I just… I…" Mimmie buried her face in her hands. "Please."

After a moment, she felt Ninten's arms wrap around her. She looked up at Ninten and saw the same, kind face that brought back memories of older times, better times. And while Mimmie let a few tears leak from her eyes, Ninten's eyes produced _rivers._ He cried silently, but his face was so wet that Mimmie couldn't even wipe away all of the tears.

"Are you… okay now?" Mimmie said, hugging Ninten back.

"Okay is a strong word." Ninten sighed, and Mimmie felt the anger vanish from his voice. "I still don't know how much I can feel. But even in my darkest moment, you can still move me with your words. I thought that I was the only one."

"The only…"

"The only one who feels so alone."

"So do you believe me?" Mimmie said. "Do you believe that I would be crushed if you ever left me?"

"I do."

"Will you promise me that you'll never think about killing yourself again?"

Ninten released Mimmie from the hug and smiled, holding onto her arms.

"I never make promises that I can't keep," he said. "But I _can_ promise that if I ever do seriously think about taking my own life, I'll remember this conversation."

Mimmie smiled back. Maybe that was enough.

* * *

 **Man, this chapter surprised me when I read over the draft. A couple years ago, I had a summer between high school and college where I just felt terrible, was convinced that nothing mattered, ect. Things got a lot better for me once I got to college, and they can get better for other people too. I wrote this chapter because I was depressed and suicidal like Ninten, and I think I found a bit of what I needed to:**

 **I'm not alone in how I feel.**

 **Ninten's not either, and neither are you. I'm sure there are people out there who are going through really tough times, but if you're one of those people then there's always someone who will understand. I promise.**

 **Also, I had this be from Mimmie's PoV for two reasons: 1. The interludes are supposed to allow us to get a glimpse into side characters and 2. Writing from the PoV of a depressed/suicidal person is really hard. Like, it's not hard to make it authentic, but it can be boring since a lot of the thoughts don't make sense or are repetitive. We learn more about Ninten through Mimmie, and Ninten still has an internal journey left to underake before he's able to do his best in the war against Giygas.**

 **Ninten's father:** I made Ninten's father Teddy from Mother 1. He played a minor role in the previous fic, where he and Ninten tried to stop Morgan Lorune from obtaining a powerful poison. Their relationship isn't great, as you can see. Teddy wanted Ninten to avoid PSI because if he knew PSI then people might want him as emperor because Ninten is technically Emperor George's heir at this point. After Ninten learned PSI, Teddy blamed Ninten for not being able to resist his grandfather.

 **Ninten's grandfather:** Ninten's grandfather is an OC, Coran Lorune. He's the son of Emperor George (now in Lloyd's body, but Lloyd is also dead... man a lot of stuff has happened) and Empress Mary. He wanted to reinstate himself as Emperor but was killed and replaced by his more reasonable brother Boras. Coran suffocated Ninten to the point of unconsciousness before dragging him to Onett to get tested for PSI, which Ninten can use. Ninten still bears psychological scars from that day.


	42. Interlude: Lucas

**Note:** You might think that this has no place next to scenes of intergalactic conflict, but remember what Lucas went on to do. This was the breaking point.

Oh, and if you see this, be ready for the gore ahead. I understand if you don't want to move forward, but I couldn't bring myself to censor what happened.

And now my job here is almost done. I gathered 13 memories (although one was from myself, so I'm not sure if I should count it) that give context to the War Against Giygas. While everyone's heard about Ness' and Ninten's roles, I hope that we do not forget everyone else that played a part.

Cheers,

D. C; A. A.

* * *

 **Four and a half years ago:**

"Come on, Lucas," Claus said. "Let's go practice swordplay!"

Lucas looked at a squirrel scurrying up a lotus tree with a nut in its mouth. He smiled at the animal. People in Tazmily considered squirrels to be little more than vermin, but the way that their bushy tails moved up and down as they ran made Lucas stare in wonder.

"Lucas!"

"All right, Claus," Lucas said. "Where do you want to go?"

"How about the Sunshine Forest?" Claus said. "We'll have plenty of space, and I know you like being out with the wildlife."

That was his brother, all right. How could Lucas possibly resist Claus' begging eyes and barely contained smile?

"Sure," Lucas said. "You'll just have to bear with my lack of swordplay skills."

"Of course," Claus said. "Do you want me to go easy on you?"

"No," Lucas said. "Just try not to hit me too hard."

Lucas laughed as Claus blinked in confusion.

"I would never hurt you, Lucas. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Lucas said. "Just like that one time when we were swimming and-"

"That was _once,_ Lucas!"

"Just teasing. You make it too easy." Lucas felt his face soften. "But I _do_ know that you would never try to actually hurt me. Give me some credit here."

Claus breathed a sigh of relief.

"Claus, it's easy to tell that you care a lot about me," Lucas said. "You don't have to worry about getting that message across. Now, let's grab those swords and head over to the Sunshine Forest."

"I can grab the swords," Claus said. "You should go there on your own since you just like staring at all of the birds."

Before Lucas could respond, Claus took off in a run towards their house.

"Claus!" Lucas shouted. "You don't need to…" Lucas shook his head.

(ILH)

"Ta-da!" Claus said, walking into the Sunshine Forest. "Two practice swords."

Lucas turned away from staring at brightly colored finches to face Claus. He picked up a practice sword and felt its balance.

"And look at this," Claus said, pulling out a steel sword. "I borrowed this from dad. Isn't it nice?"

"Claus, about the part where you said that you weren't going to hurt me…"

"I would never use this on _you,_ " Claus said, his eyes widening in horror. "I just wanted to show it to you."

Lucas covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

"I know, Claus," he said. "I'm just teasing you again."

"Oh." Claus shoulders relaxed. "Well, maybe I just need _something_ since you got that beautiful knife for your tenth birthday."

"Are you mad about that?" Lucas pulled out a dagger with Latin words engraved on it and a pale jewel stuck in its hilt. "You can have it if you want."

"Oh, no," Claus said. "I could never take it from you. Besides, the knife's called Amourus. That's so lame! What use could a 'knife of love' possibly have?"

"It sounds like you might not be so jealous after all."

"Yeah," Claus said with a sigh. "I just really like this sword. It's not flashy like your knife, but it's damn good at what it does."

"Claus!"

"Hmm? Oh, my language? Come on, Lucas. We're in the Sunshine Forest. Nobody's going to hear us."

"I can hear you."

"But you won't tell mom and dad, right?" Claus said with a wink.

Lucas huffed a sigh.

"Now," Claus said. "Let's sta-"

A starman teleported right in front of Lucas and Claus, cutting off Claus' speech. Lucas froze in place.

"Detecting source for possible psionics…" The starman said.

"No psyching way," Claus said. He pointed his sword at the starman. "You had better stay away from us!"

"Wait," Lucas said. "Why is it speaking Eagleish instead of making those beeps?"

"They must be communicating with a human," Claus said. "Which makes this scary. The starmen usually don't attack us on their own, but if a _person_ wants us gone for whatever reason…"

A chill ran down Lucas' spine.

"Let's get out of here," Claus said.

Lucas and Claus ran away from the starman back into the town of Tazmily. The starman either didn't notice or didn't care as the two children ran past its reach. Upon entering Tazmily, Lucas saw more starmen wandering the streets. Lucas gasped, clinging onto Claus by reflex. A single laser from any of those starmen could fry him or his brother.

"They have trouble seeing us, especially if we move," Claus said. "They're only supposed to go after psions, anyway."

"Mom said that the Amourus would protect us from the starmen," Lucas said. "I don't know what she meant."

"Considering that they don't seem to detect us at all, I would guess that it makes us invisible to their psionic senses," Claus said. "Let's walk together so that we stay under the knife's protection."

Lucas gripped Claus' hand as the two walked past the main square and into area below where their house was located. Lucas let out a sigh after passing the starmen.

"Okay, we're done with the worst," Claus said, shooting Lucas a smile. "We just have to camp out in our house with mom and dad."

Lucas gulped. He could do that, right? At least Claus would be there to keep him company and distract him.

"When was the last time that the starmen attacked?" Claus asked. "It was a couple of years ago, I think."

Claus shook his head. Lucas could see the questions in his eyes: _What if we have to keep living in fear of starmen attacks? What if mom and dad never let us out of their sight again?_

"Everything's going to be okay, Claus," Lucas said.

"I hope so," Claus said. "I really hope so."

Claus walked up to the door to their house and tried to open it. Naturally, the knob didn't budge. After a pause, the door opened from the inside to reveal Hinawa, Lucas' and Claus' mother. She smiled nervously and gestured for them to come in.

"Where's dad?" Lucas asked.

"He's out trying to keep people safe from the starmen," Hinawa said. "If he knew that _you_ were out there… well, he'd probably keep calm about it, but most fathers would give you at least a few paddles."

Lucas cringed at the thought. He thanked the Dark Dragon that his father never beat them. No matter what happened, Lucas could always trust Flint to keep his cool.

"We don't have a basement, so I guess we just hide out here?" Claus said.

Hinawa hesitated before nodding.

"Mom," Lucas said. "You look like something's bothering you. What is it?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about," Hinawa said with a nervous smile.

"Please, mom. I want to help you. Remember the last time you cried because we all forgot your birthday? I don't want something like that to happen again."

"Dark Dragon give me strength," Hinawa said, closing her eyes. "Psych, you're making this so much harder, Lucas."

"Me?" Lucas said, taking a step back. "Mom, what am I don't wrong? I just want to help!"

"You're too good, both of you," Hinawa said, tears escaping her closed eyelids. "Neither of you deserve what's going to happen."

"What do you mean?" Claus asked.

"Ever since I was about your age, I started to get visions of the future. Well, not really visions. I would go into a trance and say something funny. They always came true."

"And you saw a vision about us?" Lucas asked. "What happened?"

"I…" Hinawa gulped. Her eyes flashed back open. "This will be a mercy."

Hinawa lunged at Lucas, who froze with his mouth open. She tackled him to the ground, her eyes turning blood red.

 _Red…_

"Mom!" Lucas said. "Please! What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing, sweetie," Hinawa said, snatching the knife Amourus out of Lucas' hand. "Nothing at all."

Hinawa raised the knife above her head. Lucas shielded his face with his hands and closed his eyes.

 _No,_ he thought. _This can't be real. Mom would never ever hurt me. Never ever…_

It took Lucas several moments to realize that Hinawa's weight had lifted off of his body. He opened his eyes and saw Claus holding his sword at Hinawa's neck.

"What the _fuck_ is wrong here?" Claus said. "You looked like you were about to kill Lucas, mom!"

Hinawa still held the knife Amourus in her right hand. She gave Claus a sad smile.

"I see the future, Claus. Lucas is destined to become a machine that only knows how to kill. The tiny part of his conscience left will _writhe_ in agony as he slaughters hundreds of innocents. This is a mercy."

"That's not a vision of the future," Claus said, his eyes widening. "That's insanity!"

"My visions always come true. And yours are not much happier, Claus. You will be consumed by revenge. Every waking breath will be devoted towards killing your brother. Wouldn't you rather die than be reduced to that, honey?"

Claus hardened his gaze.

"Mom, please," Lucas said. "This isn't actually you, is it?"

"I think she's being controlled by the starmen," Claus said. "Make one move and I slice your throat open."

The harsh way that Claus threatened to kill his own mother made Lucas hide back, nearly curling up into a ball. Everything would be okay, right? Claus always said so. Mom always said so. Dad always said so. If everyone else agreed on something, then it _had_ to be true.

Hinawa screeched a scornful laugh directed at Claus.

"A _starman_ controlling me?" she said. "You think that they would waste their psyching time and effort on a sheepherder's wife? I am Hinawa. I am your mother, Claus. And I am sorry."

Hinawa kicked Claus in the shin. Claus stumbled backwards and cried out in pain. Hinawa lunged, slicing Claus' right wrist with the knife Amourus. Claus dropped his sword in pain, and Lucas saw it clatter to a stop on the floor. Hinawa kicked the blade away.

Lucas forced himself to stand up, although his legs shook so much that he nearly fell right back over.

"Mom!" Lucas shouted. "Claus! Please stop!"

Hinawa pinned Claus to the ground.

"Please…" Lucas said.

Hinawa raised the knife Amourus above her head.

"Stop!"

Lucas ran forward and grabbed onto Hinawa's arm. He tried to stop her arm from falling, but he knew in the back of his mind that an eleven year old child couldn't hope to match an adult's strength. Lucas held his mother back somewhat, but she still mustered enough strength to bring the knife down and stab Claus…

Right in the eye.

Claus screamed as his eye bursted open, leaving nothing behind except for a socket that filled up with blood. Lucas gasped, putting his hands over his mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to block out the image of Claus with a single eye and a bloody socket where the other eye should have been. He opened them after several moments to see Hinawa kneeling over Claus again.

Claus turned his screams into low growls, punching Hinawa in the face. Hinawa staggered backwards and nearly fell over. Claus hopped back onto his feet and covered his empty eye shocked with a hand. He raised the palm of his hand to his other eye and let out a yelp at the blood.

"What did you…?" Claus said.

"I'm sorry, darling," Hinawa said, looking genuinely disappointed. "I had hoped for this to be painless."

Claus ran for the door. Hinawa dashed after him, ready to intercept his pathway. Lucas grabbed her arm in an attempt to stop her, but she responded by turning on him and pinning him to the ground for a second time.

"I would hate to see you bleed," Hinawa said. "It doesn't look good on either of you."

She wrapped her hands around Lucas' neck and squeezed.

Lucas tried to call out for help, but the words died in his throat. He squirmed and struggled to free himself from Hinawa's grasp, but how could he compete with the strength of an adult?

"Remember," Hinawa said. "I'm saving you from an even worse fate."

"Get the psych off of him!" Claus shouted, running over and grabbing Hinawa's body.

Lucas managed to kick Hinawa in the stomach at the same time that Claus pulled on her. Her hands released Lucas' neck and Claus threw her off. Hinawa rolled over and rose to her hands and knees, while the recoil had sent Claus sprawling on the floor.

Hinawa crawled over and grabbed Claus' leg.

Claus shouted in alarm as Hinawa pulled him in. Lucas tried to rise to help his brother, but he found himself barely capable of moving with his burning lungs and pained throat.

Hinawa dragged Claus in and squeezed his throat.

"I'm sorry that you had to bleed," Hinawa said. "I know that this way hurts too, but it will be over soon."

Claus flailed, lashing out with his legs. Hinawa's gaze turned steely as she took Claus' kicks without flinching.

"Mom!" Lucas shouted. "Stop!"

Lucas ran over and grabbed onto Hinawa, trying to pull her off like Claus had. But Lucas wasn't as strong as his twin brother, and Hinawa was more prepared this time. She didn't even seem to notice as Lucas tried to drag her off of Claus. He tried to pull her hands off of Claus' throat, but they didn't even budge.

"Mom!" Lucas shouted, his voice cracking. "Please don't do this to us!"

"I'm sorry, Lucas," Hinawa said. "But this is the better order for you to die in. Claus would be absolutely heartbroken if he had to watch me kill you."

 _And I'm not?_ Lucas thought. _Claus is my twin too._

Lucas pulled on Hinawa's body with all of his might. He might has well have been trying to pull the entire house along for all of the good that he was doing.

 _No,_ Lucas thought. _There has to be some way._

Claus' face started to turn blue.

 _I can't sit here and watch my brother die!_

Lucas scanned the room, his eyes locking onto the knife Amourus. Hinawa must have dropped it when she first tried to strangle Lucas. But could he really turn a weapon against his own mother like that?

One look at Claus' wide eye and the blue veins in his cheek gave Lucas the answer.

Lucas scurried over and picked up Amourus, holding it in his hand.

"Given up, Lucas?" Hinawa asked, still facing Claus. "Thank you. It will be easier this way."

Lucas raised the knife.

"Please, be a good little boy and sit in the corner until I'm done."

Lucas drove Amourous into Hinawa's back.

Hinawa let out a startled yelp, her posture stiffening. Lucas held the knife in both hands, his palms sweaty and his breathing heavy. Hinawa removed her hands from Claus' throat, freeing Lucas' brother. Claus rolled over and gasped for break; Lucas could make out bruise marks from where Hinawa squeezed on Claus' throat.

The hilt of the knife started to heat up. In alarm, Lucas shifted his hands all of the way off the hilt and onto the handle. The jewel in the hilt was partially filled up with pink. Lucas touched the jewel and it started to fill up further as Hinawa's skin grew paler and paler.

 _Oh, psych,_ Lucas thought. _What does this knife do?_

Lucas took his finger off the jewel and it stopped filling up. Right after, Hinawa started to move again.

 _The only way to stop her is to keep filling this jewel up,_ Lucas thought. _But what am I doing? What is this knife doing to her?_

Hinawa reached out for Claus.

"Come… back to me," she said. "I brought you into this world. Let me take you out of it."

Lucas put his finger back on the jewel.

Hinawa froze as the jewel filled up with pink. Tears clouded Lucas' vision.

He was the one hurting his mother like this.

"Please," Lucas said through his sobs. "Please forgive me, mom."

The jewel finished filling up with pink. Hinawa slumped over, falling to the ground. Claus crawled over, still panting, and took her pulse.

"Dead," Claus said. "Oh psych. This can't be _real,_ can it? Mom would never try to hurt us like that. You know that, right?"

Lucas' mind had shut off when Claus had said "dead." Lucas had killed his own mother.

"Lucas? Are you okay?"

Lucas closed his eyes saw a sea of red. Waves made of blood crashed onto the beach, soaking the sand in the red. Hinawa was drowning in the red. She sunk further and further, calling his name. Eventually, she disappeared entirely.

 _Red,_ Lucas thought. _Red red red. Red._

"Lucas? Can you hear me?"

Lucas could hear the red. Did that count?

"Ah, psych. Don't just hold that knife or everyone will think that you killed her. Here, let me take it."

In the back of his mind, Lucas registered the knife Amourus leaving his grasp.

"We'll say that the starmen killed her, all right? Because in a way, they did. That couldn't have actually been our mom. The starmen controlled her and _made_ us kill her."

Lucas heard those words, but he didn't register their meaning. He just saw more red.

"Are you trying to block this out, Lucas? I don't blame you. I hope that you manage to forget about this, actually. You'd never be able to live with yourself if you knew what you did."

The entire room turned red.

"It's better for you to not be able to live with me. I have the bloody knife in my hand, so everyone will pin this on me. You should too. It will be good for you to be comfortable in your own skin, even if it means hating your brother."

Lucas could see the entire planet of Aphrodite. It was all red.

"But even though the starmen turned mom on us, she still loved us with all of our heart. We should never forget that."

The stars turned the color of blood.

"And… I love you too, Lucas. I hope that you never forget that. I'll always be here for you."

Lucas could see the universe from the outside. Naturally, it was all red.

"Lucas?"

Red.

* * *

 **I don't know how well people remember the earlier events of this story, but as implied by the end of the chapter Claus was the one who took the "blame" for Hinawa's death. He denied killing her in a way that made it seem suspicious, and Flint believed that Claus killed Hinawa, which led Flint to abandon Claus on the streets. Lucas went along with Claus, but Claus was abusive and drove Lucas into deep depression and isolation.**

 **Also, the prologue of the very first Ceres is Fuel discovering the aftermath of this scene, although it's not apparent there what happened. You can go back and check it if you want, I've been planning this out for a long time.**

 **Hope it was worth the wait.**

 **And we'll definitely see more Lucas and Claus going forward.**

 **Claus never hurting Lucas:** The discussion at the beginning of the chapter is meant to evoke a sense of dramatic irony; Claus swears to never hurt Lucas and Lucas believes him, but we know that Claus ends up being horribly abusive towards Lucas, which makes him a willing subject for Minerva Carpainter's experiments with psionic savants.

 **Flint being reliable:** Another source of dramatic irony. Lucas sees Flint as dependable but after Hinawa's death he abandons his sons to die, essentially, and nearly attempts to kill Claus. This is similar to how in Mother 3 Flint is classified as being dependable when you're naming him at the very beginning but is certainly not dependable for Lucas.

 **Claus' eye:** When we first see Claus in Ceres, he's missing an eye. It's always been a mystery as to how he lost it... and a sore subject for Claus. Now we know that Hinawa stabbed his eye out (dang I really didn't pull any punches when planning out this fic I guess)

 **Amourus:** The jewel in the knife hilt fills up as Hinawa's spirit gets trapped inside. Lucas didn't realize this, but he's trapping her inside the knife the same way Fassad and Mary were trapped in Phonus and Dynaldas, respectively.

 **Hinawa's vision of the future:** The visions are strongly meant to imply that Hinawa is a mystic like Ninten and gets visions of the future. In trying to stop the future she saw, she ended up making it a reality. A Greek Tragedy special, that one.

 **Red:** Meant to show Lucas' psychological defense to what he's done, and in the other flashbacks we see he doesn't remember killing Hinawa and believes that Claus did it. You can also see this in the prologue I mentioned.

 **Part 7 of Ceres is coming soon. The finale is in sight and thank you to everyone who's stuck with me all this way. :)**


	43. Chapter 37: Second Chance

**Part 7: Planet of Chaos**

 **Fragmented Memories: George, 80 A. F.**

 _My name is George Lorune. You may know me as Lloyd._

 _I was the last emperor._

 _Even in death, I do not rest. Especially in death, I do not rest._

 _The only person who gives my life meaning has been reduced to a shell of her former self. She lies trapped inside a crystal of a knife, and I mean that quite literally._

* * *

Ana Aniah awoke in a bed.

She sat up straight, throwing the covers off of her. If she was dead, it looked like the afterlife was a lot more familiar than she had anticipated. Ana looked down at her robes and ran her fingers over the caked bloodstains.

She rolled out of her bed and landed on her feet, her muscles sore but surprisingly functional. After pushing her body to is absolute limits while fighting Lucas, she expected her muscles to feel like rocks.

Looking around the room, Ana saw a glass of milk and a plate full of dried grapes on a mahogany dresser sitting next to a window. Ana scarfed down the grapes and downed the milk in one gulp. Wiping the milk mustache off of her lip, Ana walked over and looked out the window.

The ground lay about 100 stories down.

 _So I'm in a tall building,_ Ana thought. _Wait, could it be…?_

Ana looked at the lone door in the room. With her heart in her throat, she walked up and opened the door, leading to a hallway filled with similar, wooden doors. However, the floor in the hallway looked quite different than the floor in the room itself, as it was made out of purple crystal rather than wood.

 _The Ceres Capitol Building,_ Ana thought. _Why did I end up here?_

Ana wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Out of all the people that could have been saved and brought back to recover in such a luxurious room, someone had decided to save _her._ Not Ness, not any of the other innocent people caught up in this war. They decided to save Ana _psyching_ Aniah.

She walked out from the hallway into a larger room and was confronted by a familiar sight.

"Hello there," Mr. Spoon said, waving at Ana. "Nice to see that you recovered, little lady. You were a mess when Garan brought you in."

"So I'm back in Monotoli's office?" Ana said. "And who's Garan?"

"Yes, I am still President Monotoli's secretary, and this is still where he operates. As for Garan…"

"No need to explain," came a voice followed by footsteps from the reception office's other entrance. "I shall introduce myself."

The doors swung open and a man wearing purple psion's robes stepped in. He nodded towards Ana, but his gaze wavered when Ana looked back at him.

"It's okay," Ana said. "I don't bite, despite what you may have seen me do to myself. I presume that you rescued me?"

The man hesitated before nodding.

"My name is Garan Monotoli," he said. "I'm… glad that I could help you."

 _You shouldn't be. Someone more deserving could have used that help._

"Well, you quite literally saved my life," Ana said, forcing a smile. "I can't thank you enough, Mr. Monotoli."

"Please, call me Garan." He blushed as he cleared his throat. "So, um… What were you doing when you… ah…"

"You mean," Ana said, looking him in the eye, "Why the psych would someone be _stupid_ enough to slash their arm open and nearly die of blood loss?"

Garan gulped.

"No, it's a good question," Ana said. "And not one that I have the answer to. I guess it was obvious that I did that to myself, wasn't it?" Ana shook her head. "I hope you know that I would have taken her place in a heartbeat."

"Who?" Garan asked. "The younger girl that I found nearby?"

"Venus," Ana said. "Erine. _Your sister._ "

Garan winced, bringing his hands up to his chest.

"I'm sorry," Ana said. "I know that this is no way to treat my noble knight in shining armor. That's part of why I should have taken her place."

"Please," Garan said, his voice dropping down to a whisper. "Don't say that."

"Huh? Don't say what?"

"That you should take her place. You… You're young, and you have your whole life ahead of you. I think that she would be happy knowing that you lived."

"Something tells me I won't be living that life for long."

"I don't…"

"Let me take it from here," came a harsher voice from down the hall.

Geldegarde Monotoli strode out, his eyes puffy and bloodshot. Yet somehow, he still managed to look imposing. Ana crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. Judging by their last encounter when Ana _wasn't_ feeling like a piece of shit human being, she didn't expect this conversation to go well.

"Ana," Geldegarde said. "It's good to see you, and I mean that in earnest."

"Good to see me and not your daughter?"

"It's good to see _anyone_ alive in this hellscape," Geldegarde said, throwing his arms up in the air. "Do you know what I've done in my fear, Ana? I attacked the goddamn civilians, I attacked the goddamn Dalaamians, and then the Kim guy dies to my psions and I look like an even bigger motherfucking piece of shit!"

"That seems like a pretty accurate assessment," Ana said, keeping her tone cold.

"The point is that I'm glad to see at least one of you three alive. What killed Tracy and Erine, anyway?"

 _Okay, he didn't take the bait,_ Ana thought. _Who is this man and what has he done with Geldegarde Monotoli?_

"Lucas," Ana said.

"The same bastard that killed all of those psions back on Vulcan?"

"I think that his parentage is legitimate, but yes."

"Psych," Geldegarde said. "And Erine had to get caught up in that too."

Ana shot a glance over at Garan and caught him holding back tears. The younger man squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, as if disbelieving Venus' death.

"And how did you recovery go?" Geldegarde asked. "Garan here watched over you like a hawk." Monotoli scratched his chin. "Well, like a hawk, but less aggressive and less creepy."

"I'm just fine now, thanks to his efforts," Ana said. "So how long was I out?"

"A few hours," Geldegarde said. "Psionic healing does wonders for recovery time. Back in the day, we would need someone to literally sew your flesh back together. I bet you're glad that didn't happen."

"Ah, President Monotoli?" Mr. Spoon said. "There is… information that I am supposed to convey. _Crucial_ information."

"Right, right." Geldegarde waved his hand dismissively. "Garan, will you take Ana somewhere? she looks fine, and she probably doesn't want to stick around me for any longer than she has to. I can already see her smiles turning into grimaces."

"Er… okay, dad." Garan turned to Ana. "Let's go out this way."

followed him out the set of crystal double doors to avoid making him sweat for any longer. After exiting, she walked next to him in silence. He stood tall, taller than Ana herself, but something about the way he hesitated and walked without any confidence whatsoever made her eyes pass over him.

"You remind me of how she used to be," Garan said, breaking the silence. "I caught Erine stabbing herself, leaving marks just like the ones all over your arm."

"I…" How could Ana respond to that?

"We were always the closest. Our father never paid any attention to us, and our mother was basically invisible throughout our childhood. We were only one year apart. We lived like twins, played like twins, fought like twins. And now…" Tears welled up in Garan's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Ana said. "I can't know exactly what you're feeling, but I do understand what it means to lose someone you love."

"Please," Garan said. "You have to live."

"What?"

"Erine always talked just like you did. Whenever someone told her anything, she would find a way to twist their logic and come back with retorts that would leave people speechless. She looked at the world straight in the eye, and she did so alone. I couldn't see how she felt, and I still can't. Why do you always have to look at the bad in life?"

 _Because life's pretty shitty?_ Ana looked at Garan's face and couldn't bring herself to say those words.

"I know that life has a lot of bad parts," Garan said. "And you may have some less than optimal qualities. But there's a lot of good in this universe, too. At the end of the day, things usually turn out okay."

"Yeah, they turned out _wonderfully_ for the thousands of people that Lucas killed," Ana said. "I bet the people that your father dropped bombs on were just having a fantastic time."

"You sound exactly like her." Garan pulled out a golden necklace from under his psion's robes and fiddled with it. "I guess I can't stop you from thinking what you want. It's just so sad."

"It's the truth," Ana said. "Not liking it doesn't make it go away."

"I guess so."

Garan sighed, looking down at the necklace. Upon closer inspection, Ana saw a golden cross hanging onto the necklace. Garan pressed the cross between his fingers.

"Is that why you think that everything's going to turn out okay?" Ana said. "Do you think that someone's out there watching out for us?"

Garan's eyes widened and he held the cross in his palm and closed his fingers around it.

"I know what the cross means," Ana said. "Both of my parents were religious. I guess it can be nice to believe that _something's_ on our side. I wonder if this is what my parents saw every day when they held high positions in the government. They probably saw all of the corruption and destruction that we couldn't look away from now if we tried. Is _that_ why they turned to a higher entity for guidance?"

"Not everyone believes in Him because they are desperate," Garan said. "I'm probably the minority."

"Well," Ana said, forcing a smile. "I wish you the best of luck regardless. Thank you again for saving my life." Ana paused. "Did Venus ever believe in a deity?"

"No. She… didn't like how specific a lot of the messages were. She said that people who follow strict guidelines lose the ability to take context into account. She was always bending her logic to match the situation." Garan shrugged. "It's why I could never beat her in an argument."

"I guess I kind of agree with that," Ana said.

"I'm not going to argue against that," Garan said, "But different people focus on different parts of the gospel. That's why there's so much of it for us to read through."

Garan's eyes lit up when he talked about his religion. Normally, Ana couldn't see him speak three consecutive words without stumbling over one of them, but now he acted like a completely different person. He stood up straight; Ana craned her head to look at his face. He wore a calming smile that reminded Ana of the way Ness used to look at the little joys in life.

 _But Ness never looked to any sort of greater force for confirmation,_ Ana thought. _He saw the beauty in life without seeing God's touch behind every corner._

Still, she couldn't deny the similarities between her dead boyfriend and the person who was walking down the hall next to her.

"I believe you," Ana said. _And I think you managed to cheer me up, which I didn't believe was possible._

Ana and Garan continued to walk down the hall in silence.

"We can teleport wherever we want," Garan said, "But there's something nice about walking, isn't there? Even when I think that I can't stay awake for another minute, I always have the energy to walk around and think a little."

"Yeah, and I have a lot of thoughts to catch up on," Ana said. "What am I going to do now?"

Even before Ana and Garan rounded a corner to continue down the hallway, Ana saw Geldegarde Monotoli around the turn through the crystal walls.

"Oh," Garan said after he made the turn. "Father. Did something happen?"

"I have an answer to Ana's question," Geldegarde said. "You see, my soldiers and psions don't want to fight the Dalaamians anymore. After Kim's speech, the starmen entered the fray. Of course my men wouldn't want to turn their swords against other humans when starmen were killing everyone in sight."

"And…?" Ana said.

"I gave in." Monotoli pursed his lips. "For now, we are allying with the Dalaamian forces to defeat the starmen. I don't know what will come afterwards, but if we can't beat the starmen there will _be_ no afterwards."

 _Finally, an ounce of reason in this man,_ Ana thought. _I probably shouldn't push my luck by taunting him._

"Your fellow student Poo is calling for help," Geldegarde said. "Apparently, they're dealing with a lot of starmen right now. These ones popped out of nowhere, and they're tougher than the usual ones. Look outside."

President Monotoli motioned for Ana to come closer. Looking out of a clear window rather than the refractory crystal, Ana could see outside the tower quite clearly.

"No way," Garan said, walking next to Ana.

Ana blinked, looking straight ahead. In the distance stood a dark purple monster with a vaguely human shape and three legs that stretched several stories high.

"Apparently, that's Giygas controlling a bunch of starmen," Monotoli said. "So in the face of current events, I decided that your friend Poo could really use some help. I already sent most of my psions down there, and I'm going down to the Shard personally."

"They're at the Shard?" Ana said, raising an eyebrow.

"The starmen want to take it, for whatever reason," Monotoli said. "But if the starmen want something, we should try to deny it from them. Are you willing to come with me?"

The regret in Monotoli's eyes told Ana more than his words ever could.

"You realized when you found Erine," Ana said. "You realized just how _real_ all of this was for so many people."

"I…" Geldegarde averted his gaze. "I never really knew Erine, and now I'll never get the chance. And Tracy… I don't usually give a shit about kids, but after knowing her, how much she had to learn, how hard she was willing to work… Well, I don't know if I can look at the world the same way. I'm not a good person, and I don't think that I'll ever be. I don't really care if this entire planet goes up in flames. But Giygas took Erine from me and Tracy from you. For that, he will pay."

"All right," Ana said, flashing a toothy grin. "I can't ask for more than that."

* * *

By the time that Claus finished his story about what happened on the day that his mother died, Lucas' fists were pale from him clenching them for so long. Ninten devoted his attention to Lucas as the blond-haired boy's expression grew stiffer and stiffer. Ninten imagined a volcano raging behind Lucas' tight face and wondered how long it would be before he erupted.

Ninten didn't have to wait long.

"So you're saying that _I_ killed our mother?" Lucas pounced forward and grabbed onto Claus' throat. "First the starmen and now me. Who are you going to blame next? Father? Fuel? Mother herself?"

Claus gasped for breath. Lucas raised Claus off of the ground, holding Claus up with a single hand. His fingers wrapped more tightly around Claus' throat, and Lucas sneered as Claus started to squirm and kick.

"I may not have my sword," Lucas said. "But I am still the same warrior that you barely managed to touch back on Vulcan. You don't hold any power over me anymore. I'm the one in charge now. Do you _psyching_ understand?"

Lucas looked at Claus with crazed eyes. His left arm shook, even though it rested by his side while Lucas hoisted Claus up with his right hand. Lucas' bared teeth eventually turned into a pained grimace.

"Claus," Lucas said. He softened his voice but not his grip. "Whenever I see you, I want to cut off your head and toss you in a ditch. I want to see you beaten tortured. I want you to _know the pain that I did._ " Lucas shook his head. "When did this happen to us?"

"I… didn't kill her," Claus managed, his voice a deathly soft rasp. "Please."

"Lucas," Ninten said. "I can't imagine how you're feeling right now, but would you please think about-"

"Shut up!" Lucas drew a shaky breath and slammed Claus body down into the dirt, keeping his grip on Claus' throat. "I didn't say that either of you could talk."

Claus coughed and smiled at Lucas.

"Red," Claus said.

Immediately, Lucas released Claus from his grip and froze in place, his eyes widening in horror. Claus gasped for breath, his chest rising and falling as he spread his arms out on the ground and closed his eyes. Ninten inched closer to Lucas. His experiences with his father taught him not to approach someone in a bad mood, but Ninten couldn't bear to stand by and let the same thing happen to Claus again.

Ninten's vision snapped over to Lucas as he detected motion in his peripheral vision. He raised his arms in defense, but Lucas was backing away, not drawing closer. He looked at Claus as he took tiny steps backwards, holding up his hands in front of his chest and tucking his shoulders in. While he looked confident and unbeatable just seconds earlier, now Lucas looked like little more than a frightened child.

"No," Lucas said. "I can't… believe it. I would never…" Lucas squeezed his eyes shut, "Ever…"

Claus continued to suck in air.

"You!" Lucas shouted, pointing a finger at Claus. His arm shook so much that Lucas held onto it with his other hand to stabilize it. "This is another lie. It _has_ to be. I wouldn't kill…"

"You remember the red, don't you?" Claus said. "That was all that you would talk to me about for days after she died. Oceans of blood. Sanguine walls. Heh, that's another word you taught me during those days. Sanguine."

"I… remember…" Lucas took a deep breath. "Mother stabbed your eye out, didn't she? I remember looking into the depths of your eye socket and…"

"She did," Claus said.

"Your mother did…" Ninten felt his stomach churn. "Psych."

"Yeah. I think that she was a mystic, just like you." Claus frowned, sitting up and feeling the bruises where Lucas squeezed his throat. "She knew that we would turn into _this_ and tried to kill us to prevent it."

Ninten knew that his father would behave in the same way if he ever wanted Ninten out of the way. Claus' and Lucas' situation could have easily been his.

"I wish she succeeded," Lucas said. "Then you wouldn't have killed her, at least."

"How many times do I have to tell you, Lucas? I didn't kill anyone that day."

Lucas frowned.

"She stabbed your eye out in self-defense and you killed her. Doesn't that make sense?"

"It makes sense, but it isn't the truth, sadly. Thank you for saving my life that day, by the way."

Ninten put the pieces together at the same time that Lucas' eyes flashed with recognition.

"Don't you remember the decision?" Claus said, smiling at Lucas. "Kill mom or let her kill me. Be helpless to protect someone you care about or use your strength against the person you love more than anyone else."

"You…" The sword impaled through Lucas' chest turned bright crimson. "I remember…"

The sword in Lucas' chest grew brighter and brighter. After a few moments, it started glowing, shining red light onto Ninten, Claus, and the nearby landscape. Lucas stood still, closing his eyes and mouthing words that Ninten didn't catch.

"Lucas?" Claus said.

No response.

"Hey." Claus' tone softened. "Is everything okay?"

"You hid it from me all this time," Lucas said. "You pretended like you _did_ kill mom. You let dad catch you with the knife I used to kill her. You crafted an obviously false excuse claiming that the starmen killed her. Everyone in the town thought it was you and you always acted so defensive about it. Those glares that you gave people who shot strange looks at you are etched into my mind." Lucas' eyes opened, staring Claus down. "But I remember stabbing mom, feeling her blood soak my fingers and watching that little jewel on that knife's hilt fill up with pink. Why take the blame for me?"

Claus chuckled, dusting himself off and standing up.

"You couldn't handle the truth," Claus said. "You've always been a better person that I ever could be. You always cried when someone got hurt, even if they didn't give a shit about you. What would you act like if you knew that you killed your own mother? Dad would have tried to kill _you_ instead of me." Claus shook his head. "At least, that's what I told myself. I was trying to save one of us, but I guess I ended up destroying both of us."

"Destroyed," Lucas said, appearing to mull over the word. "I suppose we should have both died like the rest of Aphrodite when Minerva Carpainter dropped the nukes. It would have saved the universe a lot of trouble."

"No," Ninten said.

The word came out before he even realized that he said it. Both Claus and Lucas turned to face him, wearing the same questioning expressions. For the first time since Ninten had seen them, they actually looked like twins.

"Are you just going to keep looking at us with that stupid smile on your face?" Claus said. "What would it be to you if we died on Aphrodite?"

"Claus," Ninten said. "Do you remember when we trekked through those mines back on Vulcan? It was hell, but it was also fun in its own way."

"Yeah," Claus said. "Better than school, at least."

"Even if life his hell, you can find a way to make your own fun. We did it on Vulcan, and we can do it now."

"I suppose," Lucas said, scanning the area around him, "That we may want to defeat Giygas before jumping to any conclusions about our fate. Count me on your team, for whatever that's worth."

"Perfect!" Claus said. "And uh… Lucas, would you mind _not_ impaling yourself on a sword?"

"If I make this blade disappear, I may revert back to my previous form of a mindless killer. I am not willing to take that chance."

"Doesn't it _hurt?_ " Ninten asked.

Lucas cracked a smirk.

"It is just like you said. Life hurts, but we can still find ways to deal with the pain. Of course it is not super comfortable to have this sword sticking out of my chest, but given that I have suffered worse, it is little more than a nag in the back of my mind."

 _A sword through his psyching chest is a nag?_ Ninten thought. _What happened to him before?_

"Well, I guess if you're okay with it…" Claus shrugged. "So we're all on the same team now. Let's head back to the Shard and regroup with Poo. We'll still want to find the Sword of Kings, since it's supposed to help us beat Giygas. Even if it's just a powerful artifact, it wouldn't hurt to snatch it up for ourselves."

 _It would hurt Mary,_ Ninten thought. _And your mother. They've been locked away in psyching knives, and they'll suffer essentially the same fate if we remove the Sword of Kings from Mary's body._

"Okay," Lucas said. "Let's go."

Ninten nodded and started walking forward. After the third step, the world started spinning around him.

"Ninten," Claus said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I'm…" the world started to grow dark around him. He could only notice the sensation of Claus' hand on his shoulder if he focused all of his effort on it.

"Ninten?"

 _This is just like Ness,_ Ninten thought. _When he was pulled away to Magicant while we were riding on that horse on Vulcan._

Ninten heard the sound of his body slamming into the ground but couldn't feel anything. The next moment, the world went dark around him.

* * *

 _The Sword of Kings,_ Jeff thought. _How much do I trust Lorraine with it?_

She wanted to kill Giygas with it, right? It made sense that she would be the one to use it most effectively. If Lorraine and Giygas were equal in power, then even a slight advantage in the form of a powerful artifact could tip the scales. Jeff didn't know how Lorraine planned to unlock the sword's power, but it didn't really matter if it helped the humans defeat Giygas.

 _But what if we don't want Giygas dead?_

It was a stupid thought, and Jeff knew it. Of course they wanted Giygas dead. Thousands of humans died by his command, and he wanted to dominate the universe. Even if Lorraine wasn't a perfect ally, _anything_ was better than Giygas.

Still, it irked Jeff how nobody bothered to explain Giygas as anything other than the manifestation of pure evil. Everything had a reason for existing. Something couldn't be good or evil _just because._

 _This doesn't matter,_ Jeff told himself. _If we don't get rid of Giygas soon, he'll destroy all of us._

The ground thumped beneath Jeff, which he guessed was the crystal giant taking steps forward. He still remembered the view of Giygas' horde of starmen that merged into one massive creature more vividly than he preferred to. Lorraine seemed confident that this crystalline robot that she controlled could match the strength of Gigyas' monster, but Jeff suspected that it was little more than a diversion anyway. Two titans battling in a human-made city didn't really result in universal domination for one side or the other.

Jeff focused on what he _could_ change: making sure that the humans near what was left of the Shard could obtain the Sword of Kings. He looked down at one of the table screens nearby that Lorraine used to view the outside world. Jeff didn't know where she had gone, but he didn't have any time to waste worrying about her.

"Show me where Ana Aniah is," Jeff told the screen.

* * *

 **Fragmented Memories:** The words in italics at the beginning of each chapter are "memories" gathered from various characters. In this case we have George Lorune/Lloyd, the last emperor.

 **Religion in Ceres:** Back in the days of the Empire, religion was outlawed and people were required to worship the emperor as a god. Many of the nobles, however, practiced Christianity in secret, but even the concept of what we generally consider to be religion is unknown to the vast majority of people at present time. Many of the people in Scaraba are implied to practice Shia Islam, although this is never stated directly.


	44. Chapter 38: Music, Power, Love

_This universe has both more and less to it than I thought._

 _As a human, I always assumed that the physical universe was the pinnacle of existence, but the psionic realm provides a more cohesive form of functioning for many entities. In fact, the physical universe we know is much younger than the psionic realm._

 _But of course, that's not a completely correct statement either, and it shows the limits of our language. Because time as we know it only exists alongside physical space. There is no time in the psionic realm, but it follows a similar style of progression—a different fourth dimension, if you will._

 _Yet at the same time, this universe still contains wonders that I would have never imagined._

* * *

Ana appeared in front of the Shard of Ceres, looking at the massive tower of crystal that nearly reached the clouds. She frowned, looking at the jagged, purple crystals of the Shard more closely. Whenever she saw pictures of it, the Shard looked roughly like an upside-down cone. However, a good portion of it looked hollowed out, and massive crystal shards lay scattered around the nearby landscape.

"Well, psych," Geldegarde Monotoli said. "I never thought that I'd see the day."

"What?"

"Look behind you, Ana."

Ana turned around, looking back at the city. From the distance, most of the buildings appeared as little more than skinny lines in the distance, the crystal towers dancing in the light of the Ceresian sun. She saw the glowing, dark purple monster that Giygas apparently controlled. It stepped towards the center of the city, taking buildings down with a swing of its dark purple blade.

Also inside the city stood another warrior that towered above most buildings. This one boasted a body made of crystal rather than thousands upon thousands of starmen. In fact, it looked like the exact same type of crystal that made up the Shard of Ceres.

Ana looked back at the massive hole in the top of the Shard.

 _…Oh._

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Monotoli said. "That something in that psyching building suddenly _awoke_ and turned into that thing?"

"If it's fighting Giygas," Ana said. "I don't see a problem with it."

"All my life," Monotoli said, shaking his head, "I thought I was in control of everything. I thought that I was playing games with other people, but I guess I was just a piece on a board all along."

 _I've always known that I was a pawn,_ Ana thought.

"I guess you'll introduce me to your friends?" Monotoli said.

"If Poo still trusts me, yeah. I did try to kill him and then ran away to fight Lucas."

Monotoli raised an eyebrow.

 _"Ana,"_ a voice said in her mind. _"It's Jeff. Guess what?"_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"I just realized that I can stimulate different parts of the brain besides the auditory cortex."_

In her mind, an image of a white puppy wagging its tail and panting popped up. Ana tried to conceal her smile from Monotoli as she put her hands over her mouth.

 _"That's psyching adorable!"_ Ana transmitted. _"Can you send me something else?"_

An image of a sunset on a beach appeared in Ana's mind. She could hear the sound of the waves crashing down. She could taste the salty air. And of course, she could see the clouds stained pink from the sunset and the brilliant shades of red and orange that lit up the sky.

 _"Psych,"_ Ana transmitted.

 _"Pretty cool, huh?"_

"Ana," Monotoli said. "Are you zoning off?"

"No!" Ana said, turning back to Monotoli with a guilty smile. "I would _never._ "

Ana forced a laugh down as Monotoli shot a strange look at her.

 _"But I came here to tell you that Poo will be happy to see you,"_ Jeff said. _"He's right in front of the Shard. You should talk to him."_

"Hey, Monotoli," Ana said. "Could you teleport us right in front of the Shard's entrance?"

"Wouldn't that be a bit… I don't know, intrusive? I don't think that the Dalaamians would appreciate us just warping to a spot behind their lines, and their disapproval might turn into some laser beams that I don't want headed my way."

Ana squinted, looking towards the Shard. She made out red dots in front of the building that probably were Dalaamian soldiers.

 _"Don't worry about it,"_ Jeff said. _"I already told him that you're coming."_

 _"Okay,"_ Ana transmitted back. _"But you'll have to reward me for following all of your commands like this. I accept payment in the form of you sending more pictures of cute animals."_

 _"Believe it or not, I'm actually busy. Saving the universe is a full-time job."_

 _"Aw, I thought that it would be part time. What did I sign myself up for?_

 _"Goodbye, Ana."_

Ana smiled. Even as Jeff ignored her attempts at humor, his messages carried a certain warmth that reminded her of days spent working on schoolwork and eating ice cream with friends.

"We'll be fine," Ana said. "Trust me."

"You're not making it easy." Monotoli sighed. "All right. I guess if I die then the universe won't be missing out on much. Teleport."

* * *

As Ana and Geldegarde Monotoli appeared on the steps of the Shard of Ceres, a dozen spears surrounded them. Dalaamian soldiers with neutral expressions held the longspears steady in both hands; Ana frowned at the spear points that touched her psion's robes.

"Beautiful," Monotoli said, shaking his head. "Tele-"

"Wait."

The spoken word wasn't loud, but it carried the tone of someone who expected to be obeyed. Monotoli smirked and looked to the side. Ana followed his gaze to see Poo striding up the steps of the Shard, shaking his head with an amused expression on his face. The soldiers lifted their spears and held them in an upright position, giving Ana more room to move without getting stabbed.

"Welcome, your majesty," Monotoli said. "You look like you expected us to be here."

 _Jeff must have told him,_ Ana realized, sending out a silent thanks. _He's really pulling his weight over in the Shard. The ability to contact anyone at any time would give most military commanders a wet dream._

"Unfortunately, I am no mystic." Poo paused, his expression turning contemplative. "Or perhaps fortunately. Regardless, I am thankful to see you here. I assume that you would not teleport here to attack us now?"

"We want to join you," Monotoli said. "We'll work out the details afterwards."

"Meaning that you'll stab us in the back the second after the starmen finish fighting."

"My people are scared. They lash out in fear rather than desire."

"They? You are the one commanding them, President Monotoli."

Monotoli pursed his lips, and Ana couldn't help but smile. Given how little she could manage to get satisfying reactions out of the man, she resolved to study how Poo gave him such a hard time.

"Perhaps I was rash and acted out of an illogical fear as well," Monotoli said, pausing after each word. "But if you do not seek to usurp our crystal throne, you will be allowed to leave in peace."

"Ana," Poo said, pinning her down with his eyes. "Do you trust this man?"

 _I don't trust anybody, you included._

"He hasn't given me reason to distrust him," Ana said honestly, "At least as of late. And I think that we'll need all of the help we can get."

"We," Poo quoted, the corners of his lips tilting upwards. "So you consider yourself to be one of us, now?"

"I understand that I wear Ceresian robes," Ana said. "And that I fought against you. But nobody wants Giygas to win this, right?"

"I suppose."

Ana waited for Poo to continue before realizing that he had nothing more to say.

"So, did my psions arrive to assist you?" Geldegarde asked.

"They did. I had trouble trusting them." Poo shrugged. "But they killed starmen, so I let them form their own camp. I still am not sure about integrating our two armies."

"Well, we don't have to."

Again, Ana waited for Poo to respond while the King of Dalaam stood still while the gears turned in his head.

"Ana. President Monotoli. Would you mind if we teleported somewhere?"

"Sure," Ana said, looking at Monotoli.

"Well, I guess there would be easier ways to kill us. Where do you wish to take us?"

"A place right outside the Dalaamian camp."

"And," Ana said after a pause. " _Why_ do you want to take us there?"

"Honestly?" Poo smiled. "I'm not entirely sure."

One of the guards said something to Poo in Dalaamian.

"Yes," Poo said back in Eagleish. "I'll be fine. I know Ana. She'd kill me if she really needed to, but I'd certainly be able to tell if that were the case because of how easy she is to read. Monotoli might try to kill me, but he can't take us both."

"I'm so flattered," Ana said, making her voice sound as dry as possible.

"It is the truth, yes?" Poo said, tilting his head and smiling. "Good or bad qualities, who can say? But it makes you who you are. Are we all set to go?"

"I still don't trust this kid," Monotoli muttered under his breath.

"And I don't trust you either, so we're even," Poo said.

Monotoli's eyes widened in surprise.

"Didn't think I could hear?" Poo said. "So much of Mu training is just knowing how to observe. There is a reason why no outside force has ever conquered Dalaam; our warriors know how to fight with our minds as well as our fists."

"I thought that it was because your capital is on top of a mountain where nobody could reach it," Ana said.

"Well, that too. Any more objections?"

Ana and Monotoli exchanged a glance.

"No?" Poo said. After a pause, "All right. Teleport."

* * *

Ana appeared next to Poo and Monotoli on a grassy plain similar to the place that Monotoli originally teleported her to before warping to the Dalaamian camp. The long grass swayed in the wind as the plain eventually faded into a forest the further down Ana looked.

"So why did we come here again?" Monotoli asked.

"Observe," Poo said, closing his eyes.

Ana was about to ask what he meant when she detected a psionic aura nearby. It didn't come up as particularly strong, but any psion out here would be nice to recruit. She looked over in the direction of the aura and saw Claus running towards them, carrying an unconscious Ninten in his arms.

"That boy," Monotoli said. "Isn't he supposed to have an aura as well?"

"Indeed," Poo said, opening his eyes. "There is not even a mind shield hiding his aura. I do not know what happened to him."

Ana's heart skipped a beat.

"Maybe he's dead."

"That was my first thought as well," Poo said, taking a deep breath. "First Paula, then Ness, and now Ninten… talk about a string of tragedies for our friend group. But there are other explanations. Look at Claus. Would you look like that if you were carrying a dead friend?"

Ana looked back as Claus ran up to her and Poo, looking at them with a mixture of excited surprise and urgency. Not exactly the picture of someone in mourning.

"Claus," Ana said, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt. "Is everything okay? What happened to Ninten?"

"We went through _hell_ after we broke off from you and Diana," Claus said, addressing Poo. "We ended up fighting Mary of all people, and Fassad was controlling her this time. Although, I don't suppose that you would know about Fassad…"

"Claus!" Ana said. "Is Ninten all right?"

"Oh yeah, he's not dead or anything." Claus set Ninten's body down and turned towards Ana. "We were fine and then he just fell unconscious _after_ the fight when he started walking."

"Fatigue?" Monotoli said.

"That wouldn't explain the lack of aura around his body," Poo said.

"Yep, Poo's right," Claus said. "I think that someone or something pulled his psionic spirit away from his body. You can feel his pulse, so I know that he's alive."

Ana knelt down and squeezed Ninten's hand. Sure enough, she felt blood thumping inside. She drew a deep breath and released a sigh.

"Claus," Ana said, suddenly remembering. "Lucas said that he was going to try and find you. Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, but he ran off after Ninten fell unconscious. Didn't look like he was going to hurt anyone, though, and I needed to make sure that Ninten was okay…"

"We understand," Poo said.

"It's funny," Claus said, his voice growing soft. "I think that Ness passed out like this too when Lucas called him over to Magicant. Ninten told me about it. And right before he fell unconscious, Ninten started spewing this oddly uplifting shit."

"Wait," Ana said. "You're saying that _Ninten_ wasn't the grumpiest person in the area?"

"I know!" Claus said. "He even cheered me up, just like Ness would have. He might be starting to fill that role, now that…" Claus trailed off, looking at the ground.

 _Now that Ness is dead,_ Ana thought. _Psych, why does it still hurt so much to think about? I couldn't even love him._

"You had better not die on me," Ana said, pointing a finger at Ninten's body. "You deserve to live more than the rest of us."

"Indeed," Poo said. "Ninten was the first person to show me kindness when I went to Ceres. He acts rough, but there's always a kindness underneath. But I can sense that our adult friend here is getting tired of our chatter." Poo smirked, but after a second returned to a focused expression. "Another aura."

"Speaking of which," Claus said. "How did you guys know that I would be here? Just a lucky coincidence?"

"I'm inclined to think not," Monotoli said, looking first at the Dalaamian war camp between them and the shard and then shifting his gaze back towards Poo. "I think that our royal friend here has a secret that he should share with us."

"Quiet," Poo said, his eyes closed. "I need to concentrate."

After a moment, Poo's eyes shot open.

"It's Lucas," he said. "And he's carrying the Sword of Kings."

Claus and Ana exchanged a glance. Ana didn't feel as bad about the butterflies in her stomach after looking at Claus twiddling his thumbs and biting his lip.

"You're sure it's him?" Monotoli said.

"In Dalaam, they teach us to observe and remember." Poo shrugged. "I could be wrong, but it would be the first time in years."

"Okay, and when you say the 'Sword of Kings'…"

"Yes, I mean the actual legendary artifact," Poo said. "It's real, but we haven't figured out the whole 'infinite power' thing that's supposed to let us beat Giygas."

 _"Ana,"_ Jeff's voice said in her mind. _"Poo doesn't want Monotoli to know about me giving out instructions like this, so would you mind not talking about it in front of him? I directed Lucas over to you guys."_

 _"I guess Poo's pretty suspicious, huh?"_

 _"It comes with the responsibility."_

"I can't tell if the person approaching is indeed Lucas," Monotoli said, "But he seems to be gaining on us quite quickly."

After he mentioned it, Ana did realize that the psionic aura in the distance was approaching at a rapid rate. From what little she had seen of Lucas, he always seemed to be sprinting _somewhere_ or another. Seriously, how much energy did that kid have in his tank?

After what felt like no time at all, Lucas ran up, sweating and with heavy yet controlled breathing. The stained glass sword that he used to wield stuck out of his chest, and he carried a katana with a white stone in the hilt that Ana identified as the Sword of Kings.

"Greetings," Lucas said. "I did work while I was gone."

"I'd say so," Claus said. "If only you would tell me these things _before_ you leave me with an unconscious body."

"Sometimes I just can't be with you," Lucas said. "It still creates a lot of stress in my life that I don't need, especially since I could be teetering over the edge without realizing it."

"Okay," Monotoli said, raising his hands in preparation to manifest a power. "Can somebody please explain to me what the psych is happening?"

"I'm here to deliver the Sword of Kings," Lucas said, handing the blade to Poo. "Mary seemed fine with me taking it, actually. I think a starman was controlling her, or something like that? And since nobody seems to trust me, I thought that I would hand it off and I detected your auras over here."

"Thank you," Poo said without missing a beat. "I guess you had a change of heart?"

"Thanks to Ana, yes." Lucas smiled. "It turns out that my humanity was hiding inside this sword the entire time."

"So that's why it's… er…" Monotoli coughed.

"Sticking out of my chest? Yes, sir."

Monotoli turned his gaze over to the Sword of Kings.

"So _this_ is the legendary Osohe blade?" he shook his head. "All I can see is a mess."

Four heads turned towards him wearing confused expressions.

"Care to explain?" Ana said.

"It's silly." Monotoli frowned. "His majesty here says that he does well at observing on a larger level, but I'm good at analyzing the intricate workings of psionics. Where many people can only see auras, I can glimpse all of the strings that are working behind the scenes."

"And?"

"And those strings are tangled."

"Meaning…?"

"That this sword doesn't _work_ as a powerful artifact. It's comprised up of three different… things, right? Each one with its own, complex aura."

"Yeah," Claus said. "The three Osohe knives. Each one of them trapped someone's spirit inside."

"And then there's a fourth object thrown into the mix that just screams _power,_ " Monotoli said.

"The Sound Stone?" Ana suggested.

"Probably." Monotoli tapped the white stone in the sword's hilt. "It comes from here."

"So you figured out how it's made," Poo said. "What does it mean?"

"For a combination of different objects like this to be powerful, you would expect the different parts to aid each other, right? Just like when you make a robot: the individual parts aren't impressive, but the end result is pretty miraculous."

"Mm hmm?" Ana said.

"Well, this is the opposite. Each one of the objects thrown in the mix here is powerful. Like… _really_ powerful." Monotoli gestured outwards with his arms to indicate a large amount. "But the objects interfere with each other. Rather than them forming together to create an even more powerful object like the legends say, this object is weaker than any of the individual parts. It just… doesn't work."

Ana paid attention to Monotoli's expression. His eyes lit up as he talked about the mechanics of psionic objects, and his enthusiastic voice caught her off guard. This was certainly a side to Geldegarde Monotoli that Ana had never seen before.

"Is it possible that you're missing the real purpose behind it?" Claus said.

"Possible, maybe, but it wouldn't make any _sense._ " Monotoli shook his head. "Powerful objects can disguise their own auras, but there are always tells. And none of them would waste so much power to merely create interference as a decoy."

"But…" Lucas said, uncertainty seeping into his voice. "Isn't this the way that we were supposed to beat Giygas?"

"Maybe we'll find another way to use it," Ana said with a shrug.

"No," Poo said, his voice ringing absolute.

"Hmm?" Claus said.

"I do not trust Monotoli," Poo said, "But he wouldn't lie about something like this. Not something that could save us."

"But what if he's just wrong?" Claus said.

"There are little tells that I look for," Poo said. "People who really know their stuff do things differently than amateurs, even if they speak with the same confidence. It's hard to explain. The point is that I trust Monotoli's judgment probably even more than he trusts his own."

"Really." Monotoli smiled. "Maybe we could learn to get along."

"You said that the sword is more powerful in its base components, right?" Poo said. "In that case, we should take it apart."

"But if the Sword doesn't work…" Lucas said. "How will we ever beat Giygas?"

"I agree with Poo," Ana said. "We'll find another way, and we can't keep holding on hope to legends when we have the data right in front of us."

"All right," Lucas said, although his shoulders sagged.

"It's okay," Claus said. "You were still helpful to us. I don't know if any of us could have retrieved the Sword like that."

Looking closely, Ana saw that Lucas was clenching his jaw. His posture stiffened.

"I don't need your approval," Lucas said. "I don't need _anything_ from you."

"All right," Claus said, taking a step back. "I just wanted to-"

"Stop." Lucas stared Claus down. "Just stop."

Lucas took a deep breath.

"You know how much I hate you, Claus. You _knew_ that giving me praise in an attempt to make up for all of the shit you've put me through would make me annoyed. And then you have the nerve to back off and pretend like _I'm_ the unreasonable one."

"I never said-"

"There's so much more to words than their base meaning, Claus." Lucas shot a glare at his brother. "Maybe one day you'll learn that. Have a nice day."

Lucas took off into a sprint, running off into the distance.

"Wait!" Claus said, reaching out. "Lucas, I'm sorry!"

Lucas didn't even acknowledge that he heard Claus' words.

"I'm… sorry."

"Claus." Ana walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry too. I know that this has been rough for both of you."

For a moment, it looked like Claus was about to blow up at Ana, but the anger drained from his face the moment after it appeared.

"Thanks," he said. "I just wish that I could make things _right._ "

"We're trying our best now," Poo said. "And I may have a responsibility to give you, shortly."

Claus raised an eyebrow. Instead of explaining further, Poo looked back at the Sword of Kings.

"Does anyone know how to take this blade apart back into its original components?" Poo asked. "When we brought the three knives close to the Sound Stone, they just kind of… combined."

"Yeah," Monotoli said. "Could I see the sword for a second?"

Poo hesitated before handing the Sword of Kings over. Monotoli tiled it back and forth to test its weight and torque, after which he closed his eyes and adopted a focused expression.

"I think I see it," Monotoli said. "Any psion can look into the workings of an object like this the same way we can look into people's minds. If I just look hard enough…"

Ana heard a "pop" sound, and the sword split into three knives, which fell to the ground and landed in a triangle arrangement. The white stone in the sword's hilt fell straight down and landed in the middle.

"There we go!" Monotoli said.

"Thank you," Poo said. "Now, I suggest that we split up who carries the different parts of the Sword of Kings. Claus, you should take Amourus."

Claus looked down at the knife with the pink jewel in its hilt and hesitated.

"Is it… really okay if I just take it?" he asked softly.

"It was yours originally, right?" Poo said.

"My mother's spirit is stored in there." Claus picked up the knife and held it to his chest. "She's in there, and I finally have her back. Even if it's pathetic, at least there's a little bit left of her for me to hang onto."

Pain shot through Ana's stomach. _She_ didn't have anything to remember her parents by.

 _The spirit of Claus' mom is trapped in there,_ Ana thought. _I wouldn't want that to happen to my parents under any circumstances._

"And because Amourus makes any auras impossible to detect, it means that we should also give you the Sound Stone."

After Poo mentioned it, Ana realized just how bright the Sound Stone's aura was. She shielded her eyes by reflex even though it wouldn't prevent an information overload to her psionic senses. After Claus picked up the white stone in his hand, the blinding sensation faded and Ana sighed in relief.

"I'm giving you Amourus for reasons other than emotional ones," Poo said. "Amourus is the knife of love, and you can use PK Love. There may be some synergy that we can exploit."

 _When did Poo know so much about these Osohe artifacts?_ Ana wondered. _Maybe Jeff's feeding him all of this information._

"That Sound Stone," Monotoli said. "I've never seen one before, but I think it's a heartstone."

"Really?" Claus said. "I thought I used up the last one."

"I hate to be the ignorant one here," Ana said. "But what's a heartstone?"

"Apart from being miraculously powerful, they can be used to create vastly improved psionics," Monotoli said.

"Once you suck out its power, it vanishes in an instant," Claus said. "Well, not _vanishes,_ but breaks apart into tiny specks that are utterly useless. Additionally…" Claus' face flashed with guilt. "It sucks out all of your emotions."

"It does _what?_ "

"To empower psionics further," Monotoli said, "A heartstone draws on the strength of one's psionic spirit. It feeds off of the power from thoughts that aren't as necessary to survive immediately: emotions, thoughts about physical sensations such as pain and hunger, long-term planning, and the like."

"In short," Claus said. "Anyone who uses it gets heartless and really stupid. I ran a sword through Morgan after using my last one."

"Morgan?" Poo said.

"I'll tell you later," Ana said. "If the Sound Stone does that to someone, would it be too dangerous to use?"

"And why would it be called the Sound Stone in the first place?" Poo added.

"It could have to do with…" Monotoli trailed off, shaking his head. "Before Claus picked it up and rendered it invisible to my psionic senses, there was one part that I couldn't puzzle through. I wouldn't count on it having any hidden powers, though."

"Right, best to play with the cards in our hand," Poo said. "That is an Eagleish expression, yes?"

"Yep," Claus said. "Direct hit!"

"And that's another expression meaning that I was correct?" Poo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Let's move on," Ana said. "What about the other knives?"

"I'll take Dynaldas," Poo said. "Same logic as before. Knife of power, PK Starstorm. I don't expect it to do anything extra, but it can't hurt."

"What about the last knife?" Ana said. "None of us can us PK Rockin."

 _…Except for Ness,_ she added mentally.

"Why don't you take it?" Poo said, picking up the knife and offering it to her.

"Me?" Ana said. "But I didn't do anything. Monotoli did all of the work to figure out what these knives do."

"I don't want it," Monotoli said. "It would be like painting a target on my forehead."

"Oh, and that makes me _really_ want to take it."

"Well, somebody has to," Poo said. "And we want to keep these knives separate for multiple reasons. We don't want it accidentally forming back into the Sword of Kings, and maybe we can investigate what these knives do on our own. Three knives split amongst three brains should yield three times the results. I have faith in your intellect, Ana."

"You really shouldn't."

Poo smiled, holding the knife closer.

"…Fine." Ana snatched the knife, taking a glimpse at the yellow jewel before stuffing it in its sheath and putting it on her belt. "But if I pull a stupid stunt and die out there, you'll be sorry you trusted me."

"Now you have a reason to _not_ do something like that," Poo said.

 _Hmph,_ Ana thought. _I bet Jeff suggested it to him as a way to keep me from risking myself._

She didn't know why people trying to look out for her made her mad, but that didn't make her anger any less fiery.

 _"Ana!"_ Jeff's voice spoke. _"Starmen inside the camp in front of the Shard. They appeared out of nowhere!"_

Ana exchanged a look with Poo. Judging by his startled expression, he probably got the message as well.

"I think we'd better head back to the Shard," Poo said.


	45. Chapter 39: Second Choice for a Hero

_Self-labeled Ancients that existed before the beginning of time used to walk the universe. Only three of them still remain._

 _Giygas and Lorraine are the two Ancients left with any real power. A special starman who goes by "Starman DX" is the third Ancient, and since he basically has no power of his own he's been a good talking buddy._

 _Apparently, diffusion and entropy are native to the physical universe. In the psionic realm, energy just to clump rather than spread out. A fire with no wood left would continue to grow hotter, sucking out warmth from the outside area until the air became frigid._

* * *

 _"Jeff,"_ Poo transmitted from the outside world onto the screen. _"Why did you want the Sword of Kings separated? I trust in your superior intellect, but I can't hope to understand this decision of yours."_

Honestly, Jeff just wanted to keep the Sword of Kings out of Lorraine's hands. The Osohe Queen spoke kindly and wanted to defeat Giygas, but not all of the pieces added up. Kumatora didn't trust her, and when someone didn't trust their own mother… well, either they were a rebellious teenager or something was seriously wrong. Jeff knew Kumatora to be impulsive, but the look on her face when she led him away from Lorraine revealed a level of fear that Jeff had never seen in her before.

So for now, Jeff wanted to keep Lorraine and the magical artifact separate. His heart pounded in his chest. If his intuition was wrong about this one, Giygas might destroy the entire human race.

Yeah, no pressure there.

 _"Jeff?"_ Poo repeated. _"Listen, I do trust you. You were right about Ana and Monotoli. You knew exactly where Claus and Lucas would show up. I believe your story of seeing everything from inside the Shard. I just don't understand why."_

Jeff sighed. How could he explain something that even he wasn't confident about in the slightest?

 _"I trust Monotoli's assessment,"_ Jeff sent back. _"The knives and Sound Stone themselves sound like they have miraculous power. I'm trying to think of ways to harness their energy and use it against Giygas."_

 _"All right,"_ Poo said after a pause. _"Just keep me updated, all right?"_

Jeff smiled. He had expected Poo to believe that the voice in his head was him after he warned Poo about the arrival of Ana, Monotoli, Claus, and Lucas, but he hadn't anticipated the amount of trust that Poo showed in his judgment. If one of his friends somehow got in his head and started giving advice, Jeff wouldn't take anything they said without a grain of salt.

Jeff shook his head and looked away from the clear table screen that showed Poo and the others preparing to battle starmen. How _could_ Jeff use raw power to defeat a villain whispered about only in legends? He knew that he was trying to accomplish the impossible.

But as science continued to show, notions of "possible" could change drastically with just one person if they put their mind to it. A single person discovered special relativity by questioning the nature of time and space. Perhaps Jeff could do what nobody else had done before: find a way to defeat the alien menace.

Of course, such a feat was easier said than done, but Jeff figured that harder feats had been performed with the power of experimentation, observation, and deduction.

Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire materialized in front of Jeff, her sudden appearance causing him to yelp. She looked at Jeff with piercing eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Look," Lorraine said. "You had _one job._ Get the Sword of Kings. How do you think that I can defeat Giygas without it?"

"Geldegarde Monotoli unlocked the secret behind that blade," Jeff said. "Or rather, the lack of it. It's just a bunch of powerful objects stockpiled into one, isn't it?"

"You trust an opinion of another human over me?" Lorraine said. "A human who worked against you time and time again, no less?"

 _Please, Monotoli,_ Jeff thought. _Please be right about this._

"I'm calling your bluff," Jeff said. "The Sword of Kings has no special powers. It only contains the three Osohe knives and the Sound Stone within it. _That's_ the secret power that needs to be unlocked: the separate knives and the Sound Stone are the Sword of King's final form."

"You don't have any proof."

Well, she was right about that.

"The Sword of Kings contains three different spirits locked inside," Jeff said. "I picture them like different waves with different frequencies. While it is possible for the three spirits to resonate with each other…" Jeff smiled. "I don't think that they do. Judging by the way that the three spirits inside fought for control of Mary's body alongside Starman Jenny, I think that they're causing destructive interference. Perhaps the sword _could_ be more powerful with different sprits, but as it stands I don't see how combining the knives will increase their overall power."

Lorraine sighed, scratching her chin and looking up to the sky.

"You really don't get duped by the whole 'mystical aura' thing, do you?" she said.

"It's how I found this realm in the first place."

"Fair enough." Lorraine flourished her hands outwards and performed a mock bow. "You have caught me in the act. Indeed, I planned to use three similar spirits so that the Sword of Kings could grow more powerful than anything else in this universe, but you humans ended up sealing spirits of quite dissimilar people away. The sword is most powerful in its component parts."

 _I knew it,_ Jeff thought. _And if she lies once, I'm guessing that she's hiding something else. I should keep her talking._

"However," Lorraine said. "It changes nothing. I need the three knives and the Sound Stone to defeat Giygas. We are so evenly matched in power that those artifacts could turn the tide."

Now came the tricky part. Jeff didn't have any intention of handing over the artifacts right away, and he didn't want Lorraine to read his mind and figure out the truth. With psionics, she could undoubtedly scan his mind and picket out the truth.

However, when Jeff had started to first doubt Lorraine's intentions, he considered how he could make his thoughts invisible to her. After some back and forth talking with Poo, he came up with the answer.

In this realm, thoughts could manifest themselves in physical ways. If Jeff thought hard enough about making the wind change, he could decrease it slightly. More people thinking the same thought could create greater effects, and people outside the realm could still influence the world inside with their thoughts.

This led Jeff to the realization that he could simply believe that his thoughts would be immune to Lorraine's mind-reading and they would be.

"Sure," Jeff lied. "I'll hand them to you when I get my hands on them."

Lorraine gave Jeff a suspicious look before nodding. Jeff did his best to keep his face neutral. Nothing strange here.

"Remember," Lorraine said. "We're both on the same side. You can trust me, you know."

 _Those two statements are completely different things,_ Jeff thought.

"Of course," Jeff said. "I want Giygas dead just as much as you do."

 _But do I really? He ordered the death of thousands, including Paula and Ness, but I don't know enough about him to truly despise him._

"I'm glad that we could come to this agreement," Lorraine said, smiling nervously. "I should go back to focusing my attention on Giygas. I'll expect those knives and the Sound Stone soon."

"Good luck," Jeff said.

Lorraine nodded.

"Teleport."

 _She's scared of me,_ Jeff realized after Lorraine left. _She's trying to keep control over me. And when that fails, she's trying to control the situation as a whole so she can tell herself that she's the boss. Those are clear marks of insecurity._

But why would the Osohe Queen be scared of Jeff? He couldn't really do anything other than reason through situations that others couldn't.

Maybe that was what she feared. Jeff already caught her lying once and suspected that she wasn't done with her secrets. Maybe Lorraine feared that Jeff would find out something incriminating about her, something so big that she predicted that he might try to sabotage her plan if he found out. He couldn't think of anything that would lead him to side with Giygas over her, but it fit with Kumatora's reactions to Lorraine.

But scientists never accepted a conjecture as fact without proof, whether it be experimental or deductive reasoning. Jeff's current suspicions were just that: inclinations without real evidence. Jeff would listen to himself, reason with himself, but he couldn't trust his gut fully. Not when the entire fate of the human race could rest upon his shoulders.

"When did I sign up for this?" Jeff asked nobody in particular, shaking his head. "And when did it feel so natural? I've just been a nobody all my life. I'm supposed to be overwhelmed by the responsibility and the change. Why didn't that happen?"

Jeff harkened back to the times in the chimera labs and during an earlier Starman raid on Ceres where he had done nothing. When genetically modified wolves programmed to kill cornered him and Kumatora, he cowered in a corner while Kumatora faced the entire horde with her fists. He hadn't formed tactical plans, used weapons, or even thrown rocks to assist her.

After his string of failures, Jeff crafted weapons and armor that gave him the destructive capability of a psion. He was _done_ feeling helpless, psych it! But now, those motivations that once burned in his heart seemed so empty. He didn't want to watch the life drain out of someone's face as he killed them with a laser. He didn't want to watch people scream in horror as they watched bombs that he created destroy people and homes that they loved.

He wanted to figure out the puzzles of the universe. And if by doing so, he could help people in his own way… Well, it sounded like a dream come true.

 _I think that you would have loved this, dad,_ Jeff thought. _Working with an ancient being like Lorraine and puzzling out her intentions… I just hope that I'm not screwing anything up._

"All right," Jeff said out loud. "Enough thinking." He put his hands back on the table screen and leaned over it. "Show me what Ninten's spirit is doing right now."

* * *

Ninten found himself standing in a grey hallway with grey doors on either side. At first, he assumed that the shiny, grey substance was pure metal, but it yielded gently to his touch when he ran his fingers over it. So it was just like a starman's body: organic and flexible despite looking stiff and brittle.

"Greetings," came a voice behind him.

Ninten spun around to come face to face with an albino child, his red eyes wide open and staring straight at Ninten. Most people's eyes moved around on their own accord without them knowing it, so seeing this child's eyes trained directly on him with his unwavering stare sent a chill down Ninten's spine.

"I guess," the boy said. "That it might be time to revert back to who I used to be."

The next moment, the boy was replaced with a man who looked like an older version of Ninten himself. In fact, the closest comparison that Ninten could draw to this man was Pan Lorune, a distant relative who became a mad scientist and adopted the body of an older man named Dr. Andonuts.

"Please," the man said. "Call me Lloyd. Or George, I suppose. Whichever one suits your fancy."

 _A man named George who looks like me…_ Ninten raised an eyebrow. _It can't be._

"Yes, I can see what you're thinking," George said. "I am the mad emperor that you learn about in your history classes."

"Which makes you my great-grandfather."

"I suppose that it does."

"Well, can you tell me where the _psych_ I am?"

"You know how each person has their own Magicant, right? A world inside their mind?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"This one is Giygas'."

"Giygas has his own _Magicant?_ "

"You sound surprised." George smiled. "Magicant is a place that exists between the physical universe and the psionic plane. Spirits such as yours and mine can enter if we are called or if we are dreamers such as Ness, and thoughts take on a physical form."

"So it's like the Lost Underword?" Ninten said. "It was a weird place with dinosaurs and Mesozoic plants. Poo explained that even though we entered with our bodies, thoughts from the psionic realm still can effect that place."

"Exactly like that," George said. "Well, exactly like that but opposite, I guess."

Ninten frowned.

"You could only enter the Lost Underworld as a human, right? You didn't find spirits floating around in there, taking physical forms."

Ninten nodded.

"Magicant is only accessible to sprits," George said. "Physical bodies cannot enter or leave. But the physical actions that a person takes can still affect their own Magicant."

"Could you make this any more complicated, please?"

"The mechanics of this world do not matter that much." George shrugged. "The important part is that everyone that processes information with a physical body has a Magicant. Humans, starmen, even psyching _bacteria._ "

"Great. So I'm in Giygas' Magicant. How do I leave?"

"Well, your body is supposed to call you back on its own eventually…"

"Perfect. I'll wait it out, then."

"Really? You don't have any interest in exploring Giygas' mind?"

"Not at all."

"I thought that young people were supposed to be inquisitive." George turned his nose up and sniffed. "However, your body will not call you back until you are released."

"Released? By whom?"

"Giygas himself."

"Well, that's just psyching _beautiful."_

"It's not as bad as it sounds. He has an offer for you, and you're free to refuse it and go back to your life."

"Sweet. I refuse."

"You'll want to hear him out. Trust me on this one."

"Sorry. I'm not in the business of trusting long-dead, insane, spouse-murdering grandparents."

"I didn't actually kill Mary," George said, wagging his finger. "I loved her more than anything else in this world. Why would I kill her?"

"I don't know? Maybe because you're _psyching insane?_ "

George rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Ninten, Ninten…"

"Don't take that condescending tone with me!"

"Well, that's what it sounds like." George sneered. "Just because I see things that aren't real doesn't mean that I want to murder the love of my life. Geez, do you people ever stop and _think?_ "

As much as George's words stung, Ninten felt somewhat reassured.

"So if I end up going insane too because of the whole mystic thing…"

"Yeah. You won't kill your friends or family. Well, not unless you were going to in the first place. You might kill yourself, and I'm guessing that you probably will…"

"Thanks," Ninten said dryly.

"…You won't really be a danger to anyone else. You don't have to push your friends away, Ninten. You can still lean on them."

"I still won't let myself become a burden."

"Then find someone who doesn't mind taking care of you." George shrugged. "Mary still loved me even through my delusions and hallucinations. I think that Ana would enjoy helping you out."

"Ana? She has enough on her plate." Ninten looked around at the grey walls and grey doors. "But I didn't come here to discuss my friendships. I don't want anything to do with Giygas' offer, and you can tell him that yourself. Good day."

"Nah, you can tell his secretary. It's just through that door."

George pointed to the single, closed door at the end of the hallway. Ninten shot him a suspicious look.

"See? I'll go through it first." George walked up and opened the door, revealing another, longer hallway. "In I go."

George walked in and shut the door behind him. Ninten shook his head and followed after, opening the door and stepping into the second grey hallway lined with grey doors.

At the end of the hallway stood a starman with spikes on its arms and head. Unlike before, it boasted the same white color as normal starmen instead of the creepy, dark purple color of its earlier body.

Starman DX.

"You again," Ninten said. "Unless there's more than one of you."

"It's me again," the starman said, although Ninten couldn't tell how it could speak. "I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that Kumatora escaped my captivity."

"So you're Giygas' secretary?"

"Indeed."

"Tell him that I say no to his offer."

"You haven't even heard it yet. You humans are so hasty…"

"Sure. Whatever. Can I leave now?"

"Hmm…" Starman DX paused. "It is difficult to convey human expressions with this starman body."

"Just turn into your human body," George said. "You can change your appearance here just by thinking about it."

"Yes, but…"

"I know he'll be startled," George said. "But I think that it will keep him interested enough to hear you out."

After a pause that Ninten interpreted as hesitation, the starman vanished and was replaced by an older man with a receding hairline. The hair that he had left was dyed bright blue, and he even wore glasses with blue frames.

Years spent watching the news had taught Ninten to recognize that face anywhere.

"Psych," Ninten said. "I was trying to forget that you were actually a cult leader and a mass murderer. So what should I call you? Starman DX…" Ninten looked the man in the eye, "Or Mr. Carpainter?"

"Either one works," Mr. Carpainter said, adjusting his glasses.

"Well, my dear great-grandfather here was wrong. I don't actually give a psych about you or helping Giygas, so if you really let me refuse then I'll do so and get back to my life. Everyone understand?"

"Ninten," Mr. Carpainter said. "Do you know why being a mystic makes you eventually go insane?"

Ninten hesitated.

"Do you know why someone is a mystic in the first place? We have the answers for you."

"I…" Ninten bared his teeth. "I don't care. Just leave me alone."

"Your visions," Mr. Carpainter said, speaking with a soft voice that Ninten found unsettling, "Come from Giygas himself."

Ninten tried not to show his surprise.

"Giygas computes enough information to predict the future with more accuracy than you would probably believe," Mr. Carpainter said. "He gives mystics the power to do the same."

"So Giygas _chose_ me," Ninten said through clenched teeth. "I'm going to go insane because of _him._ "

"Yes." Mr. Carpainter looked Ninten in the eye. "And so will he."

"What?"

"In the same way that you humans develop schizophrenia from processing so much information, Giygas is slowly starting to go insane in his own way."

"That makes no sense whatsoever."

"The energy it takes to see the future is too much for the human mind to handle. And it's too much for Giygas as well. As you know, energy in the physical universe disperses. Giygas' mind is starting to show signs of wear and tear, same with all Ancients that enter this universe."

Ninten frowned. Ancients?

"I can see that you're scared of helping your enemy," George said. "But have you ever considered why Giygas wants to get rid of humans in the first place?"

Honestly? No, he hadn't.

"Giygas is processing enough information to melt his logic systems, and thus acts erratically. As a human you cannot see this, but it shows up as darkness in Giygas' Magicant. A… short circuit, shall we say, as his wires wear thin from overuse."

"Wait," Ninten said, narrowing his eyes. "You mean to tell me that Giygas only wants us destroyed because he's been _corrupted_?"

George and Mr. Carpainter exchanged a glance and then nodded.

"And you expect me to believe that," Ninten said. "That Giygas is just misunderstood, and not actually the embodiment of evil that he is."

"You can believe what you want," Mr. Carpainter said. "But your opinion should be informed. It's time for you to see into the mind of Giygas."

Mr. Carpainer walked up and opened one of the side doors. Inside, he saw space filled with little dots and numbers that lit up, moving around erratically. He took a closer look and saw that all of the numbers were 1s and 0s. When they moved, they grew and shrank in size, but nothing about their movement or growth rate could be modeled by any function Ninten could conceive of.

"It probably looks sporadic to you," Mr. Carpainter said, "But this is the absolute height of order. Giygas doesn't really think in terms of the physical space that you humans do, so I'm guessing you can't really see his way of processing data."

Well, he was right. Ninten couldn't see anything special about the numbers and dots floating around.

"Now," Mr. Carpainter said. "It is time to look into the corrupted part of Giygas' mind. Watch closely… although I'm sure that you won't have to."

Mr. Carpainter walked up to the door at the end of the hallway, passing by the rest of the doors on the sides of the hall. He looked back at Ninten and swung open the door.

Before Ninten could even shout in surprise, jarring sounds flooded his ears. He tried to put names to each of them and failed. A swarm of bees, maybe? Another one sounded like a heartbeat, but echoed and somehow managed to appear sinister to Ninten's senses. The hairs on his arms and legs pricked up, and he could _feel_ tiny objects crawling all over him. He cried out in alarm, looking down at his body and expecting to see a swarm of spiders crawling all over him.

Nothing.

Ninten couldn't _see_ the insects, but they were still there, crawling all over his neck and somehow tapping on the roof of his closed mouth. A bitter taste coated his tongue. Ninten tried to spit out whatever had gotten into his mouth, but only saliva landed on the ground in front of him. He wiped his tongue on his shirt, but the taste remained.

"Use your eyes," George said, staring straight forward towards the open door at the end of the hall. "Look into the heart of chaos."

Ninten craned his neck around to look at the area past the door, his neck meeting resistance that felt like pushing through a pile of snow. Eventually, he saw exactly what George was talking about.

The open door didn't lead to a hallway. Instead, Ninten saw patterns of red and black, swirling around and stretching outwards towards him. One moment, they looked thousands of miles away and the next moment they were so close that Ninten could touch them. Ninten looked at one repetition of the pattern and made out what looked like a swirling, red skull missing a jawbone that eventually devolved into a red line.

Ninten tried to raise his hands to shield himself and again met an unexpected resistance. So many terrible sensations flooded his senses that he couldn't keep track of all of them.

"I think that's enough," Ninten heard, and at once the sensations faded.

Ninten fell to the ground, gasping for air. Sweet. After the bitter taste in his mouth, Ninten could have consumed air for hours and not gotten tired of the taste. The regular, grey walls were more beautiful than any painting he had ever seen. The lack of sensation around his skin left it feeling blissfully cool.

"That," Mr. Carpainter said, "Is the chaos Giygas has accumulated."

"So that's… his Magicant breaking down?" Ninten said, sitting up.

"More or less," George said. "And it's what we want you to fix. Once Giygas is cured, he will no longer pose a threat to your kind."

 _How can I possibly say yes, after what I just experienced?_ Ninten thought.

"It's time for me to ask you some questions for a change," Ninten said. "If I agree, I have to go back in that door?"

"Yes," George said. "It will probably be worse than what you experienced."

"Worse? Ah, psych." Ninten shook his head. "What happens if I fail?"

"I'll try to pull you out if things get messy, but…" George shrugged. "We honestly don't know. Generally, Magicant lets people come and leave as they wish, but what lies past this door is something else entirely."

 _Great,_ Ninten thought. _What kind of idiot would actually agree to this?_

"Why do you need me for this?" Ninten said. "Why can't either of you do it?"

"I tried," Mr. Carpainter said with a shrug. "It didn't work. We were thinking that someone with a closer connection to the physical plane of existence might be able to overcome the problem created by the entropy of this universe."

"But why _me?_ "

"You weren't our first choice," George said. "We wanted Ness to do this."

The words hit Ninten like a palm slamming into his chest. Ness would have been psyching _perfect_ for the job. Who else would take pity on the godlike enemy of humankind? Certainly not Ninten.

"Okay, so why was I your second choice?" Without even meaning too, the words came out a little softer.

"We saw how you talked with Claus and Lucas," Mr. Carpainter said. "How you managed to cheer them up. It reminded us of him, and we thought that you would carry his memory to battle with you."

"You're both idiots," Ninten said. "I'm not Ness. I'll _never_ be Ness! You should have psyching protected him so that he could get you out of this mess."

"We're not asking you to be Ness," George said. "We're asking you to be Ninten."

"Ninten is an asshole. Find someone better."

"Are you really, though?" George said. "If so, you haven't always been."

Ninten gritted his teeth. As much as he relied on Ana back as a child, she always talked about how happy and upbeat he had been. His enthusiasm to create a kids' baseball team in Podunk led to the creation of a half-decent lineup in a town with hardly any people. He hadn't understood why people would join a baseball team just because he asked, but he had been too excited to care.

And then the picture in his room where he wore that huge, cheesy grin, standing next to all of his teammates… Ninten remembered the flush of joy that came with the entire experience and nearly barfed. That Ninten was a completely different person.

But maybe he could find that part of himself again. Maybe he wouldn't ever be as outgoing and chatty again, but if he could at least regain his enthusiasm… well, that would make a world of a difference.

 _But it doesn't matter,_ Ninten thought. _I'll just succumb to schizophrenia soon anyways._

Ninten took another look at George. He seemed normal enough, despite the insanity that he dealt with in life. Maybe schizophrenia didn't have to be a death sentence to him. He could still laugh and hug; not even a mental disorder could take that away from him.

Besides, maybe within the heart of Giygas' corrupted mind, he could find something about his own insanity.

Because George was right. Giygas was a shitbag just like him. And maybe Ninten could save both of them.

"Psych it," Ninten said. "I'm a fucking idiot, but I'm in. You guys knew that this would happen. You psyching _knew_."

"With enough data, nearly anything becomes known," Mr. Carpainter said.

"If you can synthesize so much information, give me a straight answer. How likely is it for me to beat whatever lies behind that door?"

"Honestly?" Mr. Carpainter said, raising an eyebrow. "Next to nothing."

Ninten grunted. He hadn't actually _expected_ an honest answer.

"But…" George said, smiling at Ninten.

Ninten felt himself start to lose control of his body. He could still feel physical sensations, but they seemed so _distant._

 _Another mystic trance,_ Ninten thought. _Finally, I get another one._

Ninten focused all of his efforts on hearing so that he could make out his own prediction of the future.

"There's still hope for success," he and George said in unison.

After those words, Ninten came back to his senses and saw George's purple eyes return back to their normal shade of dark brown.

"A prediction that we both received at the same time," Ninten said. "I guess it must be _extra_ special, huh?"

"Indeed. Are you still up to the task?"

"Maybe not, but I'm still going to try."

"That's the other reason why we picked you." George's smile broadened. "You fight harder if the odds are stacked against you. While others fold and give up, you scowl, dig your feet in, and prepare for the next wave of pain."

"I… guess so," Ninten said. It felt weird to hear someone talk about a _strength_ of his for once. "I just walk through this door, right? Is there any way that I'm supposed to fight this corrupted part of him?"

"Fight normally, at first," Mr. Carpainter said. "Afterwards, play it by ear."

"Got it," Ninten said. He walked up to the door and turned back. "If I don't make it out, tell Ana and Claus what happened to me. And will you tell Mimmie as well?"

"I'll make sure that the message is delivered," Mr. Carpainter said. "Good luck, Ninten Lorune."

"Go get 'em, kid," George said, cracking a smirk.

Ninten closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath of air. He knew that this decision was stupid. Idiotic. Beyond comprehension. And he _was_ afraid of what could happen to him, of failing everyone that he loved and letting Giygas ravage Earth and Ceres.

So why didn't that fear stop him?

Ninten smiled. Even going into the heart of chaos, he hadn't felt this good in days, maybe weeks.

 _Even if I can't make it out,_ Ninten thought. _I'll go down kicking and biting. That's about the best death I can ask for._

Ninten opened his eyes and reached out towards the grey doorknob. It was smooth and cool to the touch, unlike the squishy walls. Ninten balled his hand around the doorknob.

One last deep breath.

Ninten thrust open the door and flung himself into the chaos beyond.

* * *

 **In a way, this chapter is me trying to correct two mistakes I made earlier in Ceres.**

 **The first is a storytelling mistake with Jeff. He just... wasn't doing enough. And it made sense why some regular kid wouldn't be useful in combat, but the protagonists should still have agency over the story. Here, he's left that helpless part of him behind, and I hope you like the new Jeff. :)**

 **The second mistake is leaning too much on the stereotype of a insane ruler who destroys his empire. I try to do Emperor George some justice here, and I'm trying to distance the stigma of mental illnesses causing people to be dangerous. People with mental illnesses are no more likely to commit violent crimes than anyone else, although they have a much higher suicide rate. That's what I was trying to get across with George telling Ninten that he didn't have to be afraid of hurting anyone else. This also comes out in the interlude we get with George/Lloyd where it is revealed that Mary kills herself so that she does not turn into a savant (and that went just great).**

 **For Giygas' form here I chose how he appears in Earthbound. It's strange trying to describe something that's beyond imagination, but it was an interesting challenge. Ness was supposed to be the hero to take down Giygas but he died so here we are with Ninten instead.**

 **Ceres is approaching its final chapters.**

 **Review response: The arisen:** Lucas dealing with what he's done is going to have to come in a pretty quick arc since the story is wrapping up soon, and who knows which characters will be alive at the end? But we have plenty more where Lucas is concerned, so don't worry there. And thanks! :)


	46. Chapter 40: End of the World

_Because energy tends to clump up in the psionic realm, Giygas will eventually absorb literally everything in that plane of existence. Our spirits our thoughts, and everything else that the land of the dead has to offer will eventually become part of Giygas._

 _Needless to say, it's not exactly the utopia that many religions would have us believe in._

 _Starman DX insists that eventually joining Giygas will not be a bad thing. He says that it will be just like dying a second time, and that we'll all welcome it after we get bored of existing as spirits for so long (at least, in terms of a dimension parallel to time, since time itself cannot exist without physical space)._

 _The crazy thing is, I actually agree with him._

* * *

Ninten looked into the heart of all evil.

Black and red patterns flashed around, making unearthly noises that Ninten had long since stopped trying to identify. He got the feeling in the back of his mind that being a lowly human was an advantage in this case; if he were starman or Osohe, he would probably understand enough around him to piss in his pants out of fear.

As a human, he could press forward with his own ignorance.

 _" . . ."_

Huh? What was that?

 _"It hurts… Ninten…"_

A shiver ran down Ninten's spine. Was Giygas _talking_ to him?

 _"I'm so happy…"_

A flash of pain blinded Ninten's vision. When he got ahold of himself, he was kneeling down on a floor that he couldn't see, looking down at the black and red patterns underneath. He gasped for air, standing back up to his feet. What had even hit him?

 _I know nothing about how to fight this thing,_ Ninten thought. _I can't even tell how he's attacking me._

Well, Ninten would do his psyching best to fight back despite the clearly impossible task in front of him.

"Call weapon," Ninten said, and he felt smooth, cool ectoplasm in his hands.

 _Well, at least my psionics still work._

Ninten waved his sword around without even looking at it to test its balance. When the sword didn't feel normal in his hands and he looked down, he realized that the blade was jagged and bent. He had practiced that power well enough to know that it wasn't an error on his part.

 _So, Giygas is affecting my psionics, but he can't block them completely._ Ninten paused. _Or maybe he just doesn't want to._

Still, a clumsy weapon was better than none.

"Take this, Giygas!" Ninten shouted, thrusting his sword forward.

The background flashed white for a moment, and the crawling sensations on his skin faded for a moment. Ninten basked in the brief moment of peace before the hellish nightmare continued.

 _Did that… actually hurt it?_

Ninten laughed. The whole notion was so absurd. He was fighting a monster whispered about only in the scariest children's stories, and he was damaging it with a blade made out of hardened goo.

"Listen, Giygas!" Ninten shouted. "You've proven that you're powerful and terrible and all that. I still feel like I need to wipe my tongue to get this slimy taste out of my mouth. But you'll have to try harder to break my spirit!"

Another flash of pain. A moment where nothing else mattered. He supposed that he screamed, but he couldn't notice it over the pain itself. After the sensation faded, even the jarring sounds in the background were music to his ears. Ninten laughed and thrust his sword forward once more, provoking another flash of white.

"The more you hurt me," Ninten said. "The more I begin to appreciate just what I have left."

* * *

When Jeff mentioned that starmen were _inside_ the camp, he wasn't exaggerating.

Ana stood next to Poo on the stairs to the Shard of Ceres, looking down at the Dalaamian war camp as starmen colored an otherworldly mixture of purple and black fought against soldiers while more appeared out of thin air.

"I would expect starmen teleporting in to leave behind some sort of mark that they used psionics," Poo said. "But it looks like these creatures didn't teleport in." He squinted. "And they look far more powerful than regular starmen, as well."

"Now would be a psyching good time to have Diana on our team," Claus said, looking around. "Where did she go?"

"She vanished into the Shard a while ago," Poo said. "It was right before the titans started fighting."

Ana frowned for a moment before remembering the massive creatures that fought in the middle of the city. Well, "creatures" probably wasn't the best term for them, as Giygas controlled one made out of starman corpses while someone else crafted one out of the crystal from the Shard of Ceres. Regardless, that must have been what he meant when referring to "titans."

"It was like she knew." Poo shrugged. "Her eyes grew all wide and she sprinted up the steps into the Shard. I hope that nothing happened to her."

"I hope that nothing bad happens to anyone, but it never seems to work that way," Claus said. "So Diana's gone; what do we do about it?"

"I'll stay with you," Monotoli said. "Can't have the new king killed off now, can we?"

"I don't trust you," Claus said. "I'll stay with Poo as well."

"As will I," Lucas said, his voice soft yet firm. "I think that I will be needed."

The color of the sword in his chest turned a sad blue. The way he spoke, it sounded like Lucas knew something that Ana didn't, but she didn't want to waste time going through details that weren't important enough to share out loud.

"And we want the knives separated, right?" Ana said. "So I should go down into the fray. If the starmen end up taking you guys out, we don't want Phonus anywhere near." Ana patted the knife on her belt.

"You're sure?" Claus said.

"Sure." Ana flashed a grin. "It's been a while since I got to kill things without feeling bad."

Ana's hands itched to hold an axe just one more time. She usually hated herself when she started to get all antsy and ready to fight, but this time she let herself bask in the moment as her desire to swing around a pointed object grew with every heartbeat. Ana closed her eyes and licked her lips. She could almost _taste_ the sweetness that came with burying her axe in the surprisingly soft starmen flesh.

"Somebody's getting excited," Monotoli said.

"I guess a little exercise is exactly what I need to lighten my mood." Ana smiled. "I'll catch you all later if I'm still alive in a couple of hours!"

Psych, the way that she could joke about death so flippantly felt _good._ She didn't know how long this optimistic attitude of hers would last, so she resolved to make the most of what she could.

Even as she flew down the steps, some starmen appeared to stop her. They fired lasers and unleashed PK Starstorm right after appearing. After the first few spawned, she knew what to expect from this new breed of starmen.

 _Sloppy,_ Ana thought, putting up a screen of energy above her head to block the starstorm attacks. _Couldn't Giygas teach you any new tricks?_

But as she ran past the dark purple starmen, injuring some and killing a few, she realized that the point wasn't to defat her in battle. Putting up PSI shields required a lot of energy, so even after a few Ana felt her stores run low. She gritted her teeth and employed the same strategy that every reckless psion used: stall the damage, heal up later.

Ana ignored the starmen on the steps, dashing out into the war camp. Holding an axe in her hands made her want to hit things, but Ana knew that she would be more helpful using her psionics to aid the other soldiers. Every time that a starstorm struck, Ana gritted her teeth and healed once her psionic aura was drained low enough.

Ana ran further into the camp, and the adrenaline pumping through her veins could only barely keep her running forward as she saw the scenes in front of her.

While Ana could survive a PK Starstorm by taking the damage gradually and healing up once on the brink of death, regular soldiers weren't so lucky. Ana saw an entire squad of Dalaamian soldiers approach a starman only for the starmen to drop a PK Starstorm on all of them. After the explosions, Ana couldn't even recognize who had been who.

 _So these are the Ghosts of Starmen,_ Ana thought. _I guess they're more vengeful than human spirits._

Ana struggled to keep her own spirits up while fighting through the Ghosts of Starmen alongside Dalaamian Mu-users and some of the braver soldiers. Ana used her psionics to enhance the strength of all the humans around her, but it felt like she was making little to know impact in the actual fight. For every Ghost of Starman that dropped, a dozen humans fell with it. Eventually, the Dalaamian and Ceresian soldiers started running away from anything remotely purple.

Without being able to say how, Ana found herself panting, standing among a sea of corpses starman and human alike. She tried to ignore the burnt smell coming from burning tents all around her. Ana took a moment to breathe. How many starmen had she killed? 10? 100? Ana didn't even know.

But no matter how many starmen she did kill, it wasn't enough.

Ana sensed a powerful psionic aura in front of her, more powerful than a Ghost of Starman or most Ceresian psions. She instantly recognized the person in front of her, although something seemed to be… off about him.

"Darius."

Darius stared at her, not bothering to reply. She gasped after a moment, realizing what was bothering her.

"Your eyes are red," Ana said. Darius still didn't reply, holding his sword in front of him. "Darius, what did they _do_ to you?"

Red eyes… and filled with a hate inside of him that Ana had never seen before. She gripped onto her axe and adopted a combat stance.

This battle wasn't over by far.

* * *

Ninten continued stabbing Giygas with his little toy sword for what felt like years. His resolve started strong, but it soon began to wane. He didn't know how long it would take before he or Giygas eventually keeled over.

Ninten stabbed and received a flash of light as his reward. Giygas retaliated and subjected Ninten to a variety of torture devices: cutting off his breath for minutes at a time, sending pain slowly up his body until it inevitably reached his head and left his brain muddled for the next few minutes, and pouring heat into Ninten's throat until he swore that it had actually all been burned away.

The process continued over and over and _over_ again. Eventually, a dull fear started to build up inside of Ninten, so gradually that he didn't notice it until his sword strokes started lacking their normal enthusiasm. He have a mental check-over of his physical strength and found that he was as healthy as ever; a few uses of Lifeup PSI here and there kept him unharmed physically.

Therefore, Giygas was getting under his skin. Ninten's heart pounded in his chest, but he didn't experience the drive to push forward or the craving to run around and hack at everything that he could see. The fear settled in his stomach. Whenever he pushed himself to fight faster, stronger, more vigorously… a sinking feeling would always hold him back. Ninten could taste bile in the back of his throat whenever he went on the offensive.

The fear grew and grew the longer Giygas went without attacking him. Ninten didn't know when the blinding pain would overtake him and force him to writhe on the ground for a few moments, and that uncertainty refused to leave Ninten alone. He tried to brace himself for Giygas' attacks; he tried to distract himself. Neither method worked, and Ninten was relieved when the pain finally came. At least he _knew_ that the pain wouldn't come for a while longer after it struck.

 _This is ridiculous,_ Ninten told himself. _I'm more scared of the fear itself than the actual pain._

But no matter what Ninten tried, the sinking feeling in his gut refused to leave him. He thought of people he cared about: Ana, Mimmie, Ness, Claus… and he always ended the string of faces with Paula's. At first, it helped him pushed through. As his time trapped with this corrupted Giygas grew and grew, it became harder to remember who those people were or why he should care about him. They were a million miles away; the pain was here. They couldn't help him; Giygas could hurt him.

 _"Ninten…"_ Giygas moaned. _"It hurts…"_

"It does hurt!" Ninten shout. "It psyching-"

 _"End…"_

"What?"

 _"The end is near…"_

"Stop speaking gibberish!" Ninten stabbed into the black and red pattern of Giygas.

For once, the world around him didn't flash white. For once, there was no sign that he had done _anything._

 _"Go… back… turn… away…"_

"I can't!" Ninten shouted. "I would if I could, but-"

Ninten gasped, cutting off his own sentence. He would go back if he could? Ridiculous. Ninten had signed up to defeat Giygas, and the fate of the universe could be on the line. He couldn't turn back now. He didn't _want_ to turn back now.

But no matter how much he told himself that he had made the right choice, he knew that he would have walked out right then and there if he could have. It felt like a compulsion, something that wasn't really _him._

"This is how it begins." Ninten sqeezed his eyes shut, but he could still see the distorted, red skull patterns dancing on his eyelids. "I doubt myself. I figure out the truth about myself. How weak I've always been. And then I start to _hate_ myself."

Ninten couldn't move his legs. He looked down, and he could only see down to his knees. The lower part of his legs and feet felt like they were stuck in a heavy goo. Ninten tried to lift his legs up but only managed dropping his sword. It vanished once it fell past his knees.

"Pathetic," Ninten said. "I am the most _pathetic-_ "

No. Ninten couldn't afford to fall back into his trap. Not here, not now.

 _But it's true. You weren't strong enough to resist your grandfather when he kidnapped you and named you heir to the throne while you bawled. You weren't strong enough to protect Paula. You weren't strong enough to protect Ness. Your family hates you and your friends accept you out of pity. Nobody likes you. You've never helped anyone._

Ninten knew that voice in his head well. Those words didn't come from Giygas.

They were his own.

"Stop it!" Ninten told himself.

 _But why stop? Just because you don't like something doesn't make it false. You saw Paula's parents cling onto their lies and used a code of love as an excuse to hate everyone that you want. You deny the existence of a heaven because it is logical to do so, not because you gain anything from it. So acknowledge the truth now!_

 _"It's not right… not right…"_ Giygas muttered in the background.

"I know," Ninten said.

 _"IT'S NOT RIGHT!"_

Ninten gritted his teeth. The goo that trapped his legs was starting to burn his skin. He could feel the black substance eating away at his flesh, reducing him down to the bone.

 _Let's see if I can do this._

Ninten took a deep breath, closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing until the burning goo became little more than a nag in the back of his mind. Psions like Diana Carpainter and Ana's parents could reach a state of concentration at will, but Ninten knew that it addled brain needed more time than most people. He exhaled and pictured the manifestation of his next power in his mind.

"Call weapon," Ninten said.

 _Come on, let's get a real sword this time…_

Ninten felt the cool ectoplasm slide into his right hand. He opened his eyes and looked down.

In his hand lay dagger with a blade shorter than his middle finger.

Ninten's heart sank into his stomach. He ran his finger over the dagger's blade and didn't even cut it.

 _Well, might as well use what I've got._

Ninten thrust his sword downwards into the goo until it came up to the knife's hilt. He held it inside, hoping for a flash of white, hoping for a reprieve from the creepy voices and crawling skin, hoping for _anything._

Nothing.

Ninten pulled the dagger out, and the entire blade was missing.

 _Why…?_ Ninten held the former weapon up to his face, refusing to believe the truth in front of him.

Another flash of pain blinded Ninten. The next moment, he tried to open his eyes and realized that his entire body was stuck inside of the goo. It burned away at his eyes. Was this how it felt when Claus lost his eye? Ninten had never figured out how that happened.

Ninten opened his mouth to scream and the goo flooded into his mouth, tearing away at the skin on the inside of his mouth. The rotten-tasting goo combined with the metallic taste of blood flooded down his throat. Ninten tried to cough, but he couldn't breathe.

 _"I'm… h…a…p…p…y."_

Those words rang in his head as he lost control of his consciousness.

* * *

"Ana," Darius said. His voice sounded distant, detached. Almost as if someone else were speaking inside of him.

Ana stepped over a corpse and raised her axe.

"Darius. I would say that I'm glad to see that you're doing well, but it doesn't look like you really are doing that well right now."

Darius and Ana stared each other down. The cries of pain and clashing of steel sounded in the background, but Darius' expression spoke louder than any of them. His tight mouth and stiff posture spoke volumes about his barely restrained anger, but when Ana looked inside of his eyes she saw someone who was dead inside.

Darius closed his eyes and adopted a smirk, shaking his head.

"Why do you fight for them, Ana?"

"For who?"

"The humans."

Darius stepped forward, his foot landing on a corpse's leg. He didn't even seem to notice as he squished leg, bone and all, underneath his shoe.

 _I don't think that people are supposed to be able to do that._ Ana looked back at Darius. _There's something… off about him, something that I'm not seeing._

"Your aura," Ana realized out loud. "It's cold. Empty."

"Impressive." Darius flashed a smile that didn't meet his eyes. "Most of the others didn't notice. Or maybe they just didn't care because I was in the process of killing them." Darius shrugged. "It didn't change much, in the end. Just brought out things that were already inside of me."

"You're fighting with the starmen," Ana said. "To erase humanity."

"We don't deserve this universe." Darius gestured towards the battlefield around. "So much _chaos._ People fight, people die, nobody cares. The rich never suffer; the poor return home to weep the loss of their loved ones." Darius' eyes flared with energy. "Giygas has promised us _all_ an end, Ana."

"An end." Ana glared. "I almost came to _my_ end, Darius. Do you know how stupid I feel about it? Do you know how much I wish that I had never given myself these scars?" Ana rolled up her sleeve and showed Darius the markings that remained from stabbing herself with a knife over and over. "Even psionics can't erase my past. Even psionics cannot erase humanity."

"I hoped that you would understand," Darius said. "So much noise. So much clutter. You should rid yourself of it all."

"Yes, follow my heart, never question my instincts, and don't listen to the voices in the back of my head." Ana shook her head. "You're sounding like your father."

"I am _nothing_ like General Kim!" Ana could see veins showing on his forehead. "I was hoping to leave you alive, Ana. I was hoping that we could agree to disagree. Giygas may have captured me and indoctrinated me, but I didn't think that we were so different at our cores."

"We're not," Ana said. "That's why I have to stop you here and now."

Darius smiled, and Ana could feel the ground underneath her start to rumble. She sensed the presence of psionics in the ground around her area and darted forward. The next moment, the patch of ground that she leapt off of flew into the air, leaving a crater behind. Darius chuckled and gave a mock bow.

"I have so much power at my fingertips, Ana. All my life, people forced me under their heel. Eagleish guards and Scaraban merchants alike laughed while I squirmed and suffered. I wanted to be better than them, but they turned me into one of them."

The patch of ground landed right behind Ana with a _thud,_ spraying dirt and shaking the ground. Ana's legs wobbled, and she nearly fell over.

"You're fighting against someone with everything to gain and nothing to lose." Darius flashed a toothy smile. "I suppose that I can grant myself a small pleasure before Giygas cleanses this world. I'll toy with you, watch you writhe around in my grasp."

Darius extended a hand outwards and closed it into a fist. Ana's arm fell to her side without her ordering for it to, and she dropped her axe. She felt the smooth ectoplasm slide out of her hand, but her mind still couldn't comprehend the series of events. She hadn't _told_ her hand to do any of that. She suddenly felt like a child who was just learning to ride their bike: scared that she would lose control and crash.

"My psionics are powerful enough to break through your protective aura," Darius said. "I sent the command for you to drop your weapon, but I could tell you to do anything and you'd obey. _Anything._ "

Ana snarled, and moved her hands to manifest a power.

"Nope," Darius said, and her hands froze mid-manifestation. "This isn't a battle, Ana. This is a slaughter. And you're on the wrong side."

 _Even if you're dead,_ Ana told herself. _You can stall him. You can prevent him from killing others. Your life isn't over yet!_

"I know that this is wrong," Darius said. "I know that this is terrible. But the control feels so _good._ " Darius closed his eyes and took a deep breath of air, leaving Ana's hands locked in place. "Everyone did this to me. Why can't I descend to their level, Ana? Why shouldn't I play their game now that I have the tools?"

"That's how the cycle continues," Ana said, struggling to move her hands and finding them frozen still.

"This is how the cycle _ends._ " Darius shook his head. "It ends with us, Ana. When I first saw you, I thought that you could see past the veil and look at the pain of the universe straight in the eye, just like I could. I'm ashamed of you."

 _If he's going to keep talking, I guess I won't stop him._

"I see that fire in your eyes, Ana. You haven't given up yet."

Darius smiled, and Ana's entire body froze in place. She heard the shouting and smelled the burning; she felt the breeze rustle her hair and saw Darius walk towards her. But she couldn't _do_ anything.

Darius halted right in front of her and patted her on the shoulder.

"Eventually," he said. "You _will_ give up. Even if it's on your deathbed, you will die with regrets and unfulfilled promises."

Darius released Ana's body. She sucked in a breath of air, moving her arms and legs around to return feeling.

"Well?" Darius said.

"I don't think that I will," Ana said, picking up her axe and smiling back. "I won't have any regrets because it's a miracle that I'm still alive after nearly killing myself. Anything that I do past here is just extra credit."

"And the promises?" Darius raised an eyebrow.

"Here's the thing," Ana said. "I never make promises that I don't keep. Normally, it just translates to me not making any promises, but once in a while I get my shit together. I promise you, Darius, that I'll free you from Giygas' clutches one way or another."

Ana lunged forward with her axe. Darius whipped out a sword at the last moment and parried her attack.

"Hmm," Darius said, taking a step back. "I guess this could be fun. Let's go at it, shall we?"

Ana spent what felt like an eternity attacking and parrying, taking hits and lashing out with her axe, boosting her strength with psionics and stepping back to heal up. Ana didn't know what Giygas did to Darius, but it certainly didn't help his swordplay skills. Sure, he fought like a viper, tensed and ready one moment while vicious and deadly the next. Sure, he darted around the battlefield on light feet, never making a sound as he landed and always jerking back when Ana swung her axe on him.

But still, he was beatable. His psionics invalidated basically anything that Ana could do to fight back, but now that Darius had agreed to martial combat Ana could begin to put in some work. While Darius danced circles around Ana and lunged with a ferocity that she hadn't seen from the likes of anyone before, he wasn't particularly strong or powerful. Ana suspected that she could wield a weapon with far greater force than he even without her psionically enhanced strength.

So while Darius landed biting attacks left and right, Ana made the hits that she landed count. Good swings near Darius' left side made it awkward for him to parry, and she could often break through his weaker parries with sheer force alone. Obviously, she relied on her skill as much as her strength, probably more, but the extra _oomph_ that she could give a well-placed swing when she found an opening always put a smile on her face.

Even as the fight raged on, the superior smile never left Darius' face. His ice-cold eyes shone with amusement. Every second that she looked at his face, Ana could tell what he was trying to say: "You're dancing in the palm of my hand. I could take control of your body again if I want to."

If he expected her to fear his wrath and put up a flimsy defense, he wouldn't get the satisfaction of seeing her crumble. She put as much force as usual behind each stroke. If her skill and strength made him mad and caused him to take control of her again, so be it. Darius himself had resisted controlling authorities for most of his life; Ana could do it for a few minutes.

So even as Ana tired, the smile on her face grew and grew. For every attack that Ana landed, Darius struck back with two more, but she could see him faltering more than her.

"You like the control, do you?" Darius said. "The power. The way that you feel like you can do whatever you want when you swing that big stick of yours around."

"Of course." Ana lashed out with a swing at Darius' legs that missed by inches. "Independence is sweet indeed."

"Independence, freedom…" Darius shook his head. "It's all just power. You want power to control your environment, power over other humans so that you can do what _you_ want. There's nothing laudable or noble about it in the slightest!"

Maybe he was right, but that didn't make power a sin in the hands of someone who could use it wisely.

"Hmph," Darius said. "I am going to head back to the starmen that _I_ control and unleash a powerful attack that will wipe out any of you who still try to defend the rock that you're standing in front of."

"A massive structure of crystal isn't really a rock."

"I'll unleash the secret technique that Giygas taught me," Darius said, ignoring her comment, "The power that was mine to command all along. This is what happens when you can see clearly, when your mind is free from the clutter and you realize the lies that people tell themselves."

"You mean," Ana said. "This is what happens when you single-mindedly pursue a supposed 'truth' and kill anyone who doesn't agree with you, just like General Kim."

"I'll be waiting," Darius said, waving goodbye. "Teleport."

Ana lunged forward to try and interrupt him, but he vanished before she reached him.

"Psych," Ana said out loud. "He wants me to follow. He wants to see the crushed look on my face as my friends die. But I'm going to do it anyway. I can't let him get away with this." Ana paused, then whispered to herself, "And I made a promise."

 _"Ana!"_ came Jeff's frantic voice in her mind. _"I can see exactly where he went. I'll send you the image of the setting so that you can visualize it and teleport there, all right?"_

 _"Yeah, that would be wonderful,"_ Ana sent back. _"Thanks, Jeff. It's always nice having a friendly little omniscient helper on your side."_

 _"Not omniscient. I'm still trying to get to Ninten."_

Ana frowned. Wasn't Ninten knocked out, guarded by the rest of her friends? An image of a field that gradually transitioned into a light forest popped into her head, courtesy of Jeff. She focused on the specific details so that she could teleport with as much accuracy as possible.

 _"Be careful out there, all right?"_ Jeff said. _"We almost lost you already."_

 _"I'll try,"_ Ana sent back. _"I don't want to die any more than you want me to."_

It was funny how quickly she could rebound after wanting herself dead. She supposed that the fact that she looked death in the face and almost joined with it made her appreciate her own life more than ever before.

"Here I come, Darius," Ana said, closing her eyes and visualizing the scene. "Teleport."

* * *

 **I have enough characters at this point that I'm discovering new character foils. Ninten and Giygas, Ana and Darius... the important part to me is that these pairs of characters are similar in most ways, but are working towards opposite ends. They understand each other and can connect as they fight for what they believe.**

 **I also hope the Darius getting corrupted by Giygas thing isn't too cheesy. I wanted to avoid it but it gave me a new window into some of Darius' darker thoughts. He's done great things like raising orphaned kids in Scaraba, but he hasn't shaken free of his resentment. Gigyas even said that he's only bringing out what was in Darius to begin with.**

 **The final battle rages on, and I promise that I have some way to tie everything together and give each character important roles. So hopefully your favorite character gets as much screen time as you want. :)**


	47. Chapter 41: PK Rockin

_Even our spirits have a limited existence, a lifespan measured in a dimension parallel to time. But wouldn't eternal life get boring after a few million years? At some point, you do everything that there is to do._

 _And if Starman DX is to be believed, our spirits' long term merge with Giygas beats what Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire would have in store for us._

* * *

Ana Aniah appeared a few feet in front of Darius. She detected the auras of starmen circling around her, forming a thick ring that cut her and Darius off from the rest of the world. Black light glowed in the background, and Ana could see a sea of Starman Ghosts as she looked out towards the forest in the distance.

"I didn't believe it at first," Darius said, looking at Ana while pacing back and forth. "But there's something up about you. There's no way that you could have read my mind and known where I was teleporting."

Ana held her axe out towards him.

"But now I've forced your hand, and I know that your words are nothing but lies. You may not even know it, but you're just as possessed as I am."

"Hmm?" Ana said. Better to keep him talking.

"You've probably been hearing whispers in your mind. Little directions telling you what to do. After some time, you realize that whoever's sending the information seems to be on your side. They sent you a picture of this location in your mind so that you could follow me here."

"And what if that is the case?" Ana said. "Why does that make me possessed?"

"Do you know who that voice is?"

"I have a feeling that you do."

Darius flashed a toothy smile.

"Have you ever heard of someone named Lorraine Olva Var Entaire before?"

Lorraine… that name _did_ ring a bell in her head.

"Queen of the Osohe," Darius said. "She's an entity just as powerful as Giygas, and you've become her pawn. She watches everything you do. She knows your deepest secrets. You won't be able to wriggle free from her grasp until I part your head from your shoulders."

 _Could it be?_ Ana thought. _The voice in my head claims that it's Jeff, but he didn't help me when I nearly killed myself. It gives me the best strategic advice, but nothing on morals or ethics._

 _"Ana!"_ Jeff's voice rang in her head. _"Lorraine's here, but I'm also inside the Shard, transmitting these messages. Is there any way that you can stop Darius?"_

Could Ana… trust him?

 _"Look,"_ Jeff said. _"I'll admit that his words make sense, but if Darius goes through with his plan, thousands of humans will die. Regardless of whether or not I'm manipulating you, don't you want to at least save everyone else?"_

Ana smiled. Either this person was indeed Jeff or they could impersonate his logical side quite well.

"I see that you are not swayed," Darius said. "Perhaps it is better if you stick to your beliefs. I see now that you hop from one idea to the next, discarding old ones when they are no longer of use to you. You swear fealty or loyalty to nobody."

"I view the world with an open mind," Ana said. "And if the circumstances warrant a change in my thought process, I won't let my pride get in front of me." She chuckled. "That's _one_ positive trait about me. You'll never see me value my own opinion too highly."

 _Which is why I insist on suffering in silence,_ Ana thought. _My problems are silly, so working through them with other people seems sillier._

Ana shook her head. She could reminisce about how to improve herself _after_ she lived through this catastrophe.

"Is there nothing that will sway you?" Ana asked. "Are you completely deaf to what you don't want to hear?"

"I've made my choice," Darius said, raising his arms to the sky, "And I should have made it long ago. I thought that I could save the universe, Ana. Me, a lowly street urchin with the mere ability to move objects with my mind! But destroying something is far easier than preserving it."

"True enough," Ana said. "That's why it's hard to always act in a moral way."

"Moral!" Darius barked a harsh laugh. "Moral. You don't really understand what that word means. What are _morals_ to you when you're lying on the street, bleeding and starving, trying to crawl into a side alley so that the guards don't take turns poking at you with their spears? What are _morals_ to you when the town containing what little you love is vaporized in less than an hour? Morals are just another way for the rich to look down on the poor." Darius clenched his hands into fists. "And I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it all."

Darius' eyes turned a deep crimson. When he spoke, it almost sounded like a radio transmission, as if he weren't really there and something else was speaking through him.

"You're still chained by what you've been told," Darius said. "You've probably never thought about whether or not the world should go up in flames, because you've been taught to never question the value of life. You've been taught that Giygas is the ultimate evil and that the poor are responsible for their conditions. We're probably not even _people_ to you."

 _If I dehumanize anyone, it's myself._

Ana took another sweeping look at the mass of starmen surrounding her and Darius. Not one of them had moved since they started talking.

"You're probably wondering what my friends here are for," Darius said. "These are Ghosts of Starmen. Spirits brought back over to the physical universe. Did you know that matter and energy exist in the psionic realm? You use psionic energy as… well, psionics, but psionic matter can be translated into physical matter as well."

"That doesn't give me a lot of information."

 _When do I strike? How long do I stall? Is there still a chance that I can save him without raising my axe?_

Jeff implied that Darius had something big planned, and Darius himself spoke of a "secret technique." Ana was the only person standing between him and the lives of countless soldiers. If she jumped in too early or too late, thousands would die.

Yeah, no pressure there.

"When starmen are in this realm, it's easy to suck out their energy. Without it, they can't function." Darius walked over to a starman and touched it. The next moment, the starman slumped over and toppled to the ground. "Mind thrust."

Ana tried to brace herself, but nothing could prepare her for the onslaught of raw energy directed at her mind. Ana clutched her head in pain as her vision flashed red. Once she got a hold of herself, she realized that she was writhing on the ground. She performed a quick check of her psionic aura's strength and found that it was almost empty.

A single, basic power had nearly killed Ana outright. That wasn't supposed to happen.

"That is what I can do with the energy I drained from a single starman," Darius said, walking over and shoving Ana with his foot. "Now imagine what I could perform if I obtained the power of _all_ these starmen."

Ana tried to count the starmen at a glance. There must have been over a thousand. If one starman provided enough energy to nearly kill a psion outright, a thousand of them would hold enough power to unleash a tsunami or an earthquake.

"But you can't possibly hold that much power," Ana said. "Psionics don't allow you to just use all of the energy that's around. Eventually, your body can't hold any more."

"Most of the time, yes," Darius said, his smile growing. "However, the problem isn't with the way that our body holds energy, Ana. It's just that only so much energy can flow from the psionic realm to the physical realm at a time. But the Osohe formed legendary powers that allow the user to pour as much energy as they can find into the manifestation."

Ana gasped, lunging forward at Darius with her axe.

 _He can't mean…_

Darius raised his sword and parried her attack. His eyes reverted back to their cold state; another bloodless smile crossed his lips. Ana and Darius held their weapons in place, both pushing to try and overpower each other.

"You should feel honored to be in the presence of this much power," Darius said.

All of the starmen surrounding Darius and Ana fell over, and Ana could no longer detect their auras.

 _Divine Rulers, he actually sucked up all of their energy for himself…_

Darius' eyes narrowed.

"PK Rockin."

* * *

Darius felt the _power_ flowing through his veins.

Finally, he wasn't the one scurrying under some pompous noble's boot. Finally, he wasn't the one cleaning up the scene after Eagleish Guards looted a house and left it in ruins.

Darius knew that his former self would despise what he was doing. He heard the screams in the back of his mind.

They only made this victory sweeter.

His former self had been soft, short-sighted. God wanted people with the strength to make the world right. Punish the rich and put the poor out of their misery, one way or another.

"PK Rockin."

He felt the energy fly away from his body, leaving behind a sensation of cool bliss. In just moments, the entire human force in front of the Shard would face the raw energy of PK Rockin. A few psions here and there might survive, but the hexagon pattern that spread outward would slice apart any regular soldier.

Darius blinked. Something wasn't right.

In front of him floated a knife with a yellow jewel in its hilt. He snapped his gaze over to Ana, but she looked just as surprised as he did. After a moment, she furrowed her brow and started pushing back on Darius' PK Rockin.

That's when he realized that the deadly hexagons weren't actually _going_ anywhere. They formed a pattern around Darius, but they didn't even reach Ana, who stood a couple paces away. Darius probed outwards with his psionic senses and detected that the _knife itself_ was preventing Darius' PK Rockin from spreading further. Sure, Ana was pushing back, but the knife provided an impassable barrier.

The next moment, the yellow jewel in the knife's hilt shattered. It fell to the ground, landing blade first with its hilt sticking out of the dirt. Darius smiled as the barrier that prevented his PK Rockin from passing faded.

"Looks like you're about to make a big mistake," came a voice that he didn't recognize.

* * *

Oddly enough, Ana felt power flood through her.

She couldn't describe the sensation any better than that. She felt something pulsing within her, pushing outwards on her skin. She looked down at her veins through her skin and saw that they were glowing with a golden light. Any more, and she might have burst a blood vessel.

Ana didn't waste another moment. She _pushed_ inwards on Darius' PK Rockin with her psionics, feeling the force of the power push her back. She pictured herself crumpling up and shoving the energy until it became a ball of rainbow light floating in front of Darius. Ana focused on that image, compressing the energy further. She could _not_ let the destructive force of PK Rockin massacre thousands of people in front of the Shard.

If she failed now, most of her friends would probably survive with their psionic auras. But Ninten… In his current, comatose state, he could die just as easily as anyone else. Suddenly, the faceless masses started to gain a voice. These were thousands of people just like Ninten, with people to love them and dreams to aspire to.

So Ana kept pushing. She couldn't let PK Rockin, a staple of Ness' combat style, destroy everything that she loved.

But the more the ball of energy compressed, the harder it became to keep going.

 _I'm creating a PSI bomb,_ Ana realized. _When I try to capture the energy inside, it pushes back without Darius even helping it. If I release it now, the energy will zoom out with enough velocity to cover an even larger area than Darius originally intended._

It was a simple concept. The best way to create a large explosion was to trap energy inside of a bomb so that once it exploded, the energy would spread outwards by itself.

In that analogy, Ana was the one making the bomb by pushing all of the energy in.

She remembered when the starmen first raided Ceres and Jeff had created a PSI bomb that allowed her mother to propel PK Rockin across the entire city. But Megan Aniah had used PK Rockin to disrupt starman senses; Darius wanted to kill as many people as possible.

In trying to stop Darius from killing thousands, had she created a weapon that could erase millions?

Ana gritted her teeth. Maybe she could gradually ease off of her push so that he energy would leak out rather than explode. But then, wouldn't Darius still direct the power towards the Shard of Ceres and wipe out his original targets? What could Ana possibly do in this situation?

Darius gasped, which caught Ana's attention. She jerked her head over to look at him and saw what looked like a ghost of a strange man holding a banana floating in front of him.

* * *

"Who are you?" Darius said. "And why did you give Ana so much power?"

"Me?" the ghost said. "The name's Fassad. And I didn't give her anything. You did."

Darius snarled, barely able to make out the ghost's words. The PK Rockin power that Ana was currently trying to push back blinded Darius' psionic senses. He didn't know how to put it in conventional words; the closest analogy that he could find was a strong wind. His entire body felt the impact of so much power in one place, and he had trouble sensing anything else.

"I didn't give her shit! What the psych is happening?"

"My spirit was trapped inside of that knife. You unleashed enough power to break it."

"Break…" Darius shook his head. "What? You're psyching insane! _I'm_ psyching insane!"

"You know how you used all of those starmen as batteries? How you powered that PK Rockin with the psionic energy that made up their very essence?"

"Yes! I drained their spirits of power and used it to unleash an attack. That's why you shouldn't be able to do anything to stop me. The amount of power that I wield is-"

"Altogether unimpressive," Fassad said.

"What? You dare…"

"You see, while you drained the starmen of their sprits to harness their raw energy, Ana's doing the same to _my_ spirit without knowing it." Fassad's wispy figure smiled. "A human or a magypsy is a lot more complicated than a starman, so our spirits contain a lot more power. Just my essence is enough to match all of your starmen and then some."

"That's ridiculous! If Ana were really draining your spirit…"

"Then I wouldn't be here, right? You see, this is all an illusion. I exist only inside your head, as well as Ana's."

"None of this matters!" Darius shouted. "I already used PK Rockin. Ana can't hold it back forever, even if she does have as much power as you claim."

"Correct."

Darius blinked.

"Regardless of Ana's heroics, she's only stalling time. Eventually, her power will run out and your PK Rockin _will_ spread and kill thousands."

Darius took a deep breath. Not _everything_ had gone wrong today, it appeared. If he could still kill the people that Giygas directed him to… well, it didn't really matter _how_ he killed them, right? In the end, Ana's entire stunt was little more than a nuisance.

"That's why the change has to come from you," Fassad said.

"From _me?_ "

"Listen, kid." Fassad floated a circle around Darius. "I've been in this business a long time. A few hours ago, I hijacked somebody's body and tried to use it for my own ends. Didn't work so well. There are times when you just have to give up and walk away with your tail between your legs."

Darius gritted his teeth.

"I'll never give in!"

"But I thought that you were a practical person." Fassad wagged his finger. "I thought that you had to be practical if you were a street urchin."

"Why, you little…"

"Listen, I get it," Fassad said with a sigh. "You've been horribly wronged by this universe. People betrayed you. People laugh as you trip and fall. It's aggravating, _infuriating._ Every second I was stuck in that stupid knife, I fantasized about getting my revenge on Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire."

Lorraine… Queen of the Osohe. Had Fassad called himself a Magypsy? Darius had heard of the creatures in Aphroditian legends, but it had never once occurred to him that they could be real.

"And what did it get me?" Fassad barked a cynical laugh. "Nothing. I took control of Lucas' body. I took control of Mary's body. Everything that I did was for revenge on Lorraine. But that's not what I'm remembering now during my last moments. I only remember how much pain I caused. I turned other people into the same, bitter person that I am. That's how the cycle continues."

"I don't care," Darius said, mostly trying to convince himself. "I don't know you; I don't care…"

"When you look back at everything that you did in your life," Fassad said. "Is this what you want to remember? Butchering thousands of people that you couldn't bring yourself to understand?"

"It's too late now, regardless." Darius spat, but the saliva went right through Fassad's ghost. "I can't turn back."

"You still have a choice," Fassad said. "PK Rockin can do so much more than kill. If you ease up on the anger, you could use that energy of yours to play a nice little tune in everyone's head. Wouldn't that be a nice way to go out? A final swan song for someone that nobody would otherwise remember?"

"Why do you even care?" Darius said. "What's any of this to you?"

"You know," Fassad said, looking up at the sky. "For a long time, Lorraine painted me as a villain because I was the only Magypsy to question her. I broke the harmony." Fassad smirked. "I started to accept that title; I started to _become_ it. But I don't think that I ever truly wanted to be evil. I hurt a lot of people, but I still want to do something nice before my spirit fades forever."

"Bullshit."

"Say what you will." Fassad shrugged. "But I don't think that you truly want to watch thousands of people die. Even if you don't realize it now, I'll bet that it still tugs at your heartstrings."

"What I want means nothing!"

"Then what matters? If desires don't mean anything, than what does?"

"Duty. Justice."

"And can those still matter if there's nobody left to carry out either?"

"…"

"Darius. I know that nobody ever recognized all of the wonderful things that you did. This is your one time to make a difference and have the whole world know."

In that one moment, Darius' resolve faltered. He felt the force of his PK Rockin turn from an angry fire raging inside of him to a sad melody that played within his heart.

Fassad turned back to Ana.

"Release the energy."

* * *

Ana hesitated. Should she really trust this Fassad person? Besides his name, she had plenty of other reasons to suspect his motives. He admitted that he hijacked Lucas' and Mary's bodies, so he obviously didn't care about her friends. Claus had described him as petty and controlling. By all means, she should have ignored him outright.

But something about his words spoke to her. After all, he did say that his spirit was fading, right? As more power flowed through Ana's veins, she wondered if it could be true that the Osohe knives shattered the spirit stuck inside once the stone broke. If Fassad were truly on his spiritual deathbed, Ana would expect him to act far more panicked.

Still, if Ana could assume that he was telling the truth, he wouldn't exist at all in a couple of minutes. What would he have to gain by fooling her one last time?

 _No,_ Ana told herself. _You can't succumb to desperation._

"Hurry," Fassad's ghost said. "We only have a moment."

Ana worked through the scenario in her head. She didn't want to abandon her current position out of panic alone, but Fassad's words did make sense. Even with his name, Ana was more inclined to trust him than her own chances of stopping Darius without him.

 _If I end up picking the wrong choice,_ Ana thought to nobody in particular, _Please forgive me._

* * *

Even a realm between the physical and psionic, Jeff heard a sad tune in the back of his head as Ana let the energy of PK Rockin explode outwards.

He had watched Ana struggle, the lone light among a sea of dead starmen, against a force that could reap thousands of lives before Giygas even entered the fray himself. He saw the space itself ripple and distort as the immense power of the PK Rockin flowed outwards, covering the entire city.

 _Just like the PSI bomb that I created for Ana's mother to use,_ Jeff thought, a smile coming to his lips. _If only I could go back to that time._

Jeff's heart pounded in his chest. He hadn't given Ana any advice because he had no idea what to do. He could look at any part of the physical work that he wanted, but that omniscience still didn't let him tell if Fassad's words were true. If he and Darius were bluffing…

 _Wait,_ Jeff thought, watching as the hexagons of PK Rockin washed over Ana without tearing her to pieces. _Maybe this PK Rockin isn't destructive._

Jeff held his breath. Could it be that Fassad had actually saved them?

The ripples in space passed over the people fighting against the starmen in front of the Shard. The starman faltered and the humans' backs straightened in surprise, but nobody looked harmed. Jeff released a sigh.

It couldn't have just been Fassad. Darius had the reins of what PK Rockin would look like once he used it. There had to be at least a small part of him that was holding him back from setting the world on fire.

 _Thank you, Darius,_ Jeff thought, _For managing to keep part of yourself alive._

Another screen to the side showed an overview of the Ceresian city. Jeff took a glance over and saw that Giygas' titan was frozen in place. The starman corpses that constituted his body lost their eerie, black glow when the ripple of space passed over them. Lorraine's titan, the one made of crystal, landed a blow on Giygas' titan with its crystal sword, slicing off the arm of Giygas' titan.

After that moment, Giygas' titan returned to normal, but Jeff could see it faltering. Could something about the PK Rockin have wounded it?

An idea started to form in his head. It was risky, risky enough to possibly jeopardize their entire mission. And even if it did work, Jeff didn't know how Lorraine would react. But if a vast amount of power released by PK Rockin could weaken Giygas, then why should PK Starstorm and PK Love be any different?

There could be hundreds of reasons why only PK Rockin would weaken Giygas. _Thousands_ of reasons. Jeff simply didn't have enough information to make a logical decision.

And then there were the moral questions that went along with his plan. If he tried to release the energy from Mary's and Hinawa's sprits, they would fade from existence just like Fassad did. But then again, would an existence trapped inside of a knife for an eternity really be any better than no existence at all?

For Hinawa, Jeff could possibly justify it, but what about for Mary, who still had her body alive and functioning?

Jeff's hands shook. He wasn't supposed to be in charge! What happened when he couldn't justify choosing either option? He couldn't force himself to trust Lorraine, but he also didn't know how he could risk everything by unleashing the power of the knives and still sacrifice Mary's and Hinawa's spirits.

 _Psych, psych, pysch!_ Jeff slammed his hands on the table. _I can't… I just can't…_

The next thing he knew, tears stung his vision. The failure of his breakdown stung worse than the frustration. This was Jeff's _one_ chance to make a difference, and he had no idea what to do.

 _Maybe I'll just explain this to Poo,_ Jeff thought. _See what he thinks._

"All right," Jeff said, turning back to the first table. "Let's see…"

Jeff paused. He blinked a few times to make sure that his imagination wasn't getting the better of him.

Ana and Darius were still fighting.

* * *

After Ana released the energy, the figure of Fassad's spirit vanished and the power faded from her veins. Perhaps he considered his job done.

 _So did Fassad choose to hand the power over to me?_ Ana thought. _Psych, I have no idea what's going on._

She saw a flash of steel out of the corner of her eye, and raised her axe on instinct to parry the incoming attack. Steel hit ectoplasm, and a metallic sound rang out. Ana leapt backwards and saw Darius advancing towards her with a curved sword in hand and murder in his eyes.

"You!" Darius said. "I don't know what you did, but you ended up ruining _everything._ "

"I didn't have the power to change the nature of that PK Rockin. Only you did."

"Shut up!"

Darius took heavy breaths, and for several moments silence reigned. Ana looked out at the field of black in front of her. Starman corpses piled on top of each other so cleanly that she couldn't see even a speck of green where the Ghosts of Starmen lay dead on the field.

 _We're the last ones alive,_ Ana thought. _All of the starmen here are dead. It's just us._

"I can read your mind, Ana," Darius said. "Yes, it is just us. Nobody's here to save you." He shoved his sword at her. "And this doesn't end until one of us joins the field of the dead!"

* * *

Starman Jenny couldn't control this body anymore.

After Lucas pulled the Sword of Kings out of her chest, the rest of the sprits inside of Mary's body left. Instead of Jenny holding the reins, something else took control. Something deeper, something more menacing.

Yet despite its elusiveness, Jenny could sum up what controlled Mary's body in just a few words: A desire to get her spirit back. This body would do _anything_ to get a hold of Dynaldas, the knife with her essence left inside.

Giygas must have known. Why else would a squad of starmen be following her? She walked forward, killing anyone in her path. Men screamed; men fell. Jenny wasn't sure if she was supposed to feel something for their deaths. What would Mary think? What would Hinawa think? They would probably hate her for not being able to restrain this body.

Jenny barely noticed as Mary's body walked up the steps to the Shard of Ceres. She could sense the psionic aura of Dynaldas at the top. A strange music played in the back of her head. Jenny tried to halt her body to pay attention to it, but Mary's body continued to stride up the steps without a second thought. Jenny tried to shake her head, but her body didn't comply. The music made her feel sad yet determined all at once, and the emotions fluctuated between those two points. It was a simple melody… or rather, eight of them (so far as Jenny could tell).

Starman Jenny killed more guards on the steps, and the starmen around her killed several more. When she finally arrived at the top, a part of her wanted to find the knife and thrust it inside of Mary's body, uncontrollable urges or no. At least she would be relegated to the subconscious again, where she wouldn't have to worry about struggling against spiritual urges.

But if Mary did obtain Dynaldas and got her spirit back, wouldn't she turn into the same woman who wiped Fiven off of the map? Jenny wasn't a human and couldn't feel emotions, but she still wasn't sure how much she would accept another city disappearing in less than an hour.

When Jenny reached the top of the steps, the yearning became unbearable. She _needed_ to find Dynaldas, and she couldn't waste a second doing so. Jenny looked towards the spot where the aura was coming from…

And spotted a distinct lack of a bejeweled knife.

Jenny squatted down and touched the area that radiated Dynaldas' aura. Nothing. She frowned, and she could tell that Mary's body was completely outraged by the revelation. How could something with Dynaldas' exact aura just… not exist?

"Heh, the look on your face is priceless."

Jenny whirled to her right to spot an older man wearing a superior smile. He chuckled, taking nonchalant steps towards her.

"Who are you?" Jenny said, her voice coming out strained. "And what did you do with Dynaldas?"

"The name's Geldegarde Monotoli. As for your knife…" Monotoli paced back and forth. "Well, it's not here."

"What do you mean? I sense the aura right in front of me!"

"Ah, that's just a little trick on my part. I specialize in auras, you see. Reading them, analyzing them… eventually I discovered that I could create them. Any use of psionics gives off an aura, but what if I altered my psionics so that they _only_ gave off auras? I'm glad to see that my test run worked."

"You little…" Jenny reached out and grabbed his throat. "Where's the real Dynaldas?"

 _This isn't me,_ Jenny thought. _Honestly, I should feel relieved that he doesn't have it. I am relieved that he doesn't have it. So why am I acting out in this way?_

"It's not here," Monotoli said with a shrug. "If I wanted to tell you more than that, why would I have made the disguised aura in the first place? I even teleported away all of the people who let me so that you wouldn't kill them."

"And you're still here."

"Yes. I am. You can forgive me for not wanting to move these old bones, right?"

Without meaning to, Jenny reached out and grabbed Monotoli by his throat. She could feel the fiery rage from deep inside Mary's body. She hadn't read much about human drug addictions, but she figured that this is probably what withdrawal symptoms probably felt like: a compulsion to get her hands back on Dynaldas.

Mary's hands shook and her fingers twitched. She _needed_ her spirit back now. Jenny used her last ounce of strength to try to restrain Mary's innate urges from taking over, but she felt the body's anger overpower her rational caution.

"Listen, you little _fucker,_ " Jenny said, knowing that those words will not her own. "I'll kill you if you don't tell me where that knife is."

"Then I'll die," Monotoli said. "PK Freeze."

Jenny felt her ice encased her arm, and she let go of Monotoli by reflex. She growled, shooting a glare at the older man. A dozen spears made of ectoplasm floated in front of Monotoli.

"I'll go down fighting," Monotoli said. "I remember seeing you floating in that sky, with your massive white laser that erased everything that it touched. Houses, people, even the goddamn _children…_ I just wanted you to know that you are a monster. And this is coming from one of the coldest presidents Ceres has ever had."

Looking into his eyes, Jenny could tell that Monotoli meant those words from the bottom of his heart. However, Mary's anger overpowered any guilt that she might have felt, and Jenny noticed that she started to suck in the energy of the nearby Ghosts of Starmen. One by one, the starmen dropped, and Jenny could feel more power flowing through her, pushing her to make a move.

While Mary's body was preoccupied with absorbing power, Jenny found a window of control over Mary's speech.

"Get out!" she shouted. "Teleport away! This body will destroy you. If you value your life…"

"Oh, but I don't." Monotoli looked at the starman corpses piling on top of each other. "Sucking their energy was what Giygas did to create his titan, wasn't it? He has enough power to blow us all to smithereens, and I'm not sure yet why he hasn't."

"Please…" Jenny said. "This is your last chance."

Geldegarde Monotoli flashed a smile.

"Goodbye," he said. "If you ever see my sons, could you tell them that I always loved them, even if I never showed it?"

Jenny screamed in a mixture of frustration and horror as Mary unleashed the power of two dozen starmen spirits in the form of a white laser beam, similar to what she used against Fiven. It ripped through Monotoli and shot off into the sky.

In the blinding light, the shadow of Monotoli remained, holding on with his psionic stall.

"Should have… died with Fiven anyway. My… mistake."

The shadow disappeared. Mary's body stopped firing off the laser, and not even ash remained to mark the death of Geldegarde Monotoli.

* * *

 **PK Rockin:** A powerful PSI move that only a few people can use. It possesses devastating offensive power but can also be used to disrupt the spirit world and cloud the psionic senses that starmen rely on.

 **And yet another character dies. We still have to resolve the story of Jenny/Mary and more Ana and Darius stuff is coming too, but there's going to be plenty more of Jeff, Claus, Lucas, and Ninten in this final battle. Stay tuned! :)**


	48. Chapter 42: PK Starstorm

_While I do trust Starman DX, I'm not entirely sure how he plays into all of this. He did lead a cult back when he masqueraded as a human and was named the most dangerous criminal of our time. He claims to work with Giygas, but he has a mind of his own._

 _So what's his game? What does he hope to achieve through all of this? Maybe he's just like me and he doesn't have anything else to care about. That's what I'm hoping for, deep down inside of my shriveled heart._

 _Because that would mean that I'm not alone._

* * *

King Poo of Dalaam dashed through the streets of Ceres, followed by a dozen guards. He paid his own protectors little mind; he only insisted on bringing them along so that Mary wouldn't kill them when Monotoli lured her in.

 _I swear,_ Poo thought, _If Monotoli didn't get Claus, Lucas, and Ninten out of there, he'll have to answer to me._

A Ghost of Starman materialized in front of Poo, its black tentacle arms placed at its hips.

"Spread out!" Poo shouted, but his soldiers already knew the drill.

Balls of energy rained down from the sky and exploded. Soldiers ducked into alleys and behind buildings, anything to get away of PK Starstorm's limited range. Poo lunged forward and delivered a flurry of punches and kicks to the starman, reducing it to a dark purple lump on the ground.

Poo looked back at his guards. One dead, three wounded. He gritted his teeth.

"A few of you can stay behind to help the wounded. As for the rest of us, let's go!"

He was hardly able to stomach his own callous action. If he just expended a bit of psionic energy, then he could have healed the soldiers and allowed them to keep walking. But Poo couldn't afford to waste a single ounce of energy on people who couldn't handle this new type of starman.

 _Am I turning into Minerva Carpainter?_ Poo wondered. _Am I turning into Geldegarde Monotoli?_

 _"Poo,"_ came Jeff's voice from inside his head. _"Are you sure that you want to go through with this?"_

 _"You were the one who suggested it, Jeff."_

 _"I know, but…"_

 _"But deep down inside, you wanted me to object, so then if we lost it would be my fault for not acting."_

 _"…"_

 _"It's all right, Jeff. I'm a leader. My entire job is to make decisions."_

 _"All right. I just don't know how we could possibly go through with something so…"_

 _"Risky?"_

 _"I was going to say immoral."_

 _"Listen."_ Poo navigated his way through back alleys, getting closer and closer to the two titans warring in the center of the city. _"I met the real Mary back at Lumine Hall. She wanted us to destroy her spirit so that she could never become a savant again."_

 _"I guess…"_

 _"Your plan is a good one, Jeff. I trust your reasoning probably more than you do."_

Jeff transmitted a gulp and a sullen nod, although Poo wasn't quite sure how he managed to get across the message so clearly.

 _"But what if Mary did legitimately want her spirit back?"_ Jeff asked. _"What would you do then?"_

 _"I don't know."_

 _"Then how can you-"_

 _"You live in a world of the hypothetical, Jeff. It's what makes you such a great scientist. 'What if this mechanic actually worked this way?' 'What if I combined these two principles to create a new one?' But I live in the world of the immediate. I can't focus on what could be since what's going on right now is threatening to destroy us."_

 _"Fair enough. Best of luck, Poo. I'm going to try and reach Ninten."_

Poo wanted to ask about Ninten, but stopped himself at the last moment. If the information were relevant to his mission, Jeff would have told him. The most important part of being a ruler was knowing when to cede control. Jeff could handle his job far better than Poo could. Best to stick to his strengths and use the tools that he actually possessed in his arsenal.

Poo shot out of the back alley and into a main street that circled around the capitol building. The two titans, one made of starman corpses and the other made of purple crystal. They both carried swords and swung the blades at each other, which always ended in a parry.

 _What good does a sword do if it's made out of the same material as the rest of your body?_ Poo wondered. _If they can't break each other's blades, then how to they expect to break each other's bodies?_

The more he looked at the two titans battling in the center of the city, the less he was convinced of their importance. What could they possibly hope to gain from this charade?

 _Wait a second._

Psionic crystal… Ghosts of Starmen… while different in almost every physical property, they shared one key feature:

The ability to store psionic energy.

"These titans aren't actually meant for battle," Poo realized out loud. "They're _energy cells._ The whole appearance of a swordfight is probably to scare meddling psions like me away."

So Giygas and Lorraine were both harnessing massive amounts of energy, from Ghosts of Starmen and psionic crystals respectively. What they planned to do with that energy, Poo had no idea.

Regardless, it was time to throw a wrench in their plans.

"Let's move!" Poo shouted, running towards the crystal titan.

Besides the titans themselves, Poo didn't see anybody on the streets. If Lorraine and Giygas wanted to scare psions off with their little show, they were doing a pretty good job. Poo cracked a smile. Pretty good, but not good enough.

In fact, neither of the titans noticed as Poo ran up to the leg of the crystal titan. With his Mu senses, he could feel the vast power that the titan carried in every ounce in its body. The energy wasn't particularly dense or centralized, but if someone could harness the power of the _entire_ crystal titan… well, Poo couldn't comprehend how much psionic energy they would have at their disposal.

By contrast, The energy of Giygas' titan was centralized in a spot inside of its chest. Poo assumed that was where Giygas himself resided. Because thousands of starman corpses lay between Poo and the titan's energy core, Poo couldn't realistically harness that energy himself. Thus, he had to suck up the power from the crystal titan instead if he were to follow through with Jeff's plan.

If Lorraine truly was controlling the crystal titan, Poo's plan would probably infuriate her.

Something else bothered Poo. When he used his Mu senses to determine the spread of energy through the two titans, he sensed energy in the air itself and heard a song playing in the back of his mind. Something like that shouldn't have been possible; the titans' immense energy should drown out any other sources of psionic power even for someone with sharp senses like Poo.

 _Jeff mentioned that PK Rockin weakened Giygas,_ Poo thought. _But it looks like everyone's dancing to its tune now. If I unleash my PK Starstorm now and absorb Mary's spirit in the process…_

Poo shook his head. The residual music from the PK Rockin wasn't hurting anybody; Poo could simply adjust his PK Starstorm to do the same. He closed his eyes and pulled out Dynaldas, the bejeweled knife that contained Mary's spirit within.

An explosion sounded behind Poo, and he felt himself fly off of the ground. A moment later, his face landed on cobblestone ground. Amidst the pain, he could make out a burning smell.

"Get out!" Poo shouted to his guards. "Retreat!"

"How noble," came a voice that sent a chill down Poo's spine.

Poo hopped up to his feet, coming face to face with Mary. She stared at the knife Dynaldas with hungry eyes.

"Your little friend couldn't keep me at bay for long," Mary said. "You'll be happy to know that I gave him a largely painless death."

"Congratulations."

While he spoke, Poo's mind worked up a storm. He could manifest PK Starstorm whenever he wished, but it would take time to drain all of the energy out of the crystal titan.

That left him with two options: either he could content himself with a suboptimal use of PK Starstorm now without the energy of Lorraine's crystal titan, or he could try to get rid of Mary so that he would have the time to harness all of the energy in front of him.

"I'm going to take my knife back," Mary said, "And then I'll kill Lucas for stealing the Sword of Kings away from me. I'll make sure to kill _him_ in the most painful way possible." Mary flashed a toothy smile. "If you want to keep things simple, hand over the knife now."

Fight back or manifest PK Starstorm now. Neither option appealed to Poo, but being a leader was all about making the best of bad situations.

Poo paused. Leaders made difficult choices, yes, but good leaders also needed to look at problems from every angle before rushing to a solution. Poo was just restricting himself by assuming that there were only two options.

 _But is there really a third route that I can take?_

"You seem to actually be considering it," Mary said. "It _would_ save us both a lot of trouble."

An idea started to form in Poo's mind. A crazy idea, yes, but Poo liked it more and more as he mulled over the different outcomes in his mind. In his largely hopeless position, Poo needed to take some major risks to get back in the game. If he played the situation safe, then he probably wouldn't be more than a little gnat buzzing in Giygas' and Lorraine's ears.

"Have it," Poo said, thrusting Dynaldas into Mary's chest.

She didn't even appear to register the pain. Mary's face lit up with an ecstatic smile. Her eyes became the gateways to a land of sheer joy.

After a moment, her demeanor reversed. Her shoulders slouched, her expression grew heavy, and she wore a sad smile.

"You put a lot of faith into me right there," Mary said.

Her silky voice made Poo's heart lurch in sympathy. She sounded so calm, so peaceful… and yet she looked so sad. Mary shook her head and let out a soft chuckle.

"You… could have doomed your entire species to death. You are a madman, Your Majesty."

"I saw you," Poo said. "When you stabbed yourself with Dynaldas the first time, back in Lumine hall. It's the same you."

"This is not me," Mary said. "Not really. Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire fractured my mind, split it into two." Mary smiled. "So I guess you can say that this is half of me."

"Lorraine did… what?"

"At first, she just spoke to me. She gained my trust. Then she had me perform psionic rituals that did… something. I don't really know." Mary shrugged. "But I was becoming a savant. I knew that I had to stop it. Even if I killed myself, my spirit would persist. Who knew what a nearly savant sprit would do to the psionic realm?"

"So you stabbed yourself with Dynaldas. Your husband never killed you."

"George…" Mary flashed a smile, a real one. "He never had anything except for my best interests in mind." Mary paused. "I guess you were right to trust me. I can keep control of my body long enough to do what is necessary."

"Meaning…?"

"My spirit will probably talk to you more after you channel enough energy into Dynaldas to break the gem in the hilt. I shall see you shortly, Your Majesty."

Mary closed her eyes and raised her hands. Poo's surprise pushed him to leap forward, but Mary swatted him away with psychokinesis.

"No," Poo said. "What are you…?"

Mary smiled and tilted her head.

"If I don't do this, then my body will want my spirit back when you channel the knife's power. And I don't think I can stop myself from turning into a savant a second time."

Mary fired the same, wide laser beam as the one that destroyed the entire Scaraban city of Fiven. Poo ran forward, reaching out with an arm even though he was helpless to stop Mary from doing what she wanted.

 _Oh psych,_ Poo thought. _What have I done?_

It was only when Mary looked back at him that Poo realized where the laser beam was aimed: not at any building or person, but at Giygas' titan. The laser beam tore through several starman corpses, leaving empty spots in the titan's body.

"Where's that bastard?" Mary said. "I can't… ah, I'm about to lose control. Better play it safe."

For a brief moment, Mary altered the trajectory of the beam, causing it to go straight up. It rose into the sky, only stopping at the purple dome that trapped Ceres' artificial atmosphere inside.

"After I take my body out of the equation, promise me that you'll destroy my spirit too," Mary said.

"I promise."

Mary smiled, and the beam descended until it covered her entire body.

A white light blinded Poo's vision, and his psionic senses were also overwhelmed by how much power Mary harnessed. He stumbled forward, but thought better of it once he realized that he might accidentally waltz in the laser beam itself.

And then as quickly as it began, everything stopped. Poo opened his eyes and saw nothing left of Mary's body. The only mark remaining was the knife Dynaldas, which lay on the cobblestone ground without a scratch. Poo picked the knife up and examined it. Nothing out of the ordinary, which in itself Poo found quite strange.

 _I guess it needs to be activated with PK Starstorm combined with a large amount of energy,_ Poo thought. _Even Mary's laser beam didn't even leave a mark._

But who would create a tool with such a specific restriction to use? The Osohe must have been odd indeed.

 _She told me that she would speak to me once I released her spirit,_ Poo thought. _She must want me to go through with my plan._

He didn't know how she has possibly figured out what he wished to do with the knife, but he couldn't see another interpretation for her message. Poo took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and placed a hand on the leg of the crystal titan.

"PK Starstorm," Poo whispered.

Then he started sucking _all_ of the energy out of the crystal titan. The entire process took minutes, and the titan tried to move away from Poo as he continued to drain it of power. But once Poo established a link between himself and the crystal giant, he could take as much energy as he pleased. Normally, psions could only hold a certain amount of energy in their body, but PK Starstorm provided an exception to that rule.

Poo closed his eyes and devoted all of his concentration to making sure that he kept control of the energy. If he let go of the energy now, who knew what would happen?

After finally draining the crystal titan of its energy, Poo heard a shattering noise from the knife. He looked down and saw the shards of the crystal lying on a ground, leaving a whole in the hilt.

The shards were pale, not red. Not even a portion of Mary's spirit was left inside of the shattered gem.

"Sorry that this had to go so quickly. I did want to know more about you."

Poo turned to the side and saw a pale ghost in the shape of Mary's body. She smiled at him yet again.

"It's tough, isn't it? Becoming a leader, I mean. You don't really live in the same world that your subjects do. You're supposed to feel for them, but how can you when you're so fundamentally different than they are?"

"Is this relevant?" Poo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really. But surely you can forgive me for reminiscing during the final moments on my deathbed, no?"

 _Oh,_ Poo realized. _This is her last opportunity to say anything. After this, she won't even exist in spirit._

"But I do have a few messages for you," Mary said. "By doing this, you incur the wrath of Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire."

"Even if I use the energy from her titan to attack Giygas?"

"Yes. She requires everything to be done _her_ way. If you ever meet her, run."

"Okay…"

"And you want to make sure that you're using the right type of PK Starstorm when you release all that energy in your body."

"The right… type?"

"If you use it like you normally do, you'll just end up killing a lot of people."

"Oh."

"You and Jeff really didn't think this through that well, did you?" Mary flashed a teasing smile.

"We're a little bit desperate here."

"Well, try not to be."

"Thanks."

"Seriously. You have time; Giygas isn't as dangerous as you think. And he may not be your only enemy."

 _Lorraine,_ Poo thought. _Psych, did we just turn both of the Ancients against us?_

"But you're both doing wonderfully," Mary said. "As is my great-grandson Ninten. Promise me that you'll support him after you win. He's going to develop schizophrenia, you know. All mystics do."

 _He is? And he didn't psyching tell me? We had plenty of time to talk while travelling together through an uncharted jungle for it to come up._

"All right," Poo said. "And… how do I make my PK Starstorm not deadly?"

"Oh, that part's easy. Just think of sunshine and flowers or whatever makes you happy."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. Either that or focus on the idea of making other people happy."

Poo exhaled softly and took a deep breath of air, closing his eyes. He searched for peace within meditation, and was able to find it within seconds. From there, he focused on what made him happy. The view of the Dalaamian mountains from atop the Pink Cloud, a soft breeze on a warm day, the sound of waves crashing on sand… and then of course, there were the smiles and tears that his friends had given him. The experiences that he shared with them were the most important of all.

Poo pushed in on the ball of energy using the power from Mary's spirit until he couldn't compress it any further.

"It's a bit of a shame that we need to give up our spirits just to give you enough energy to make this work." Mary's ghost shrugged. "But if that's what the universe needs… Well, I guess it works."

Poo grunted. He wanted to respond, but he couldn't abandon his focus now.

"You look ready to release the energy. Go for it."

Poo nodded.

"Oh, and one last thing?" Mary said. "Thank you. I won't have to worry about hurting anyone ever again."

Poo took one last look in Mary's eyes and saw the sorrow mixed in with the joy. Once again, happy and sad mixed to form a bittersweet goodbye. Smiles and tears. Yin and Yang. It wasn't possible to really have on without the other, was it? The sorrow in her eyes made that determined smile on her face so much sweeter.

"Goodbye, Ninten," Mary said, closing her eyes. "Thank you for taking care of my great-grandson."

Poo's heart lurched. He wanted to save Mary's spirit, but they both knew that the energy which kept her spirit functioning was already fading away.

"I'm sorry," Poo said.

He released the PK Starstorm, seeing the energy shoot out faster than he could keep track of with his psionic senses.

The next moment, he felt adrenaline rush through his system. It made him feel more alert and alive than he'd ever been before.

* * *

 _"Ninten!"_

Huh? Ninten debated whether or not he should focus on the voice. On the one hand, it sounded frantic, pointed. But on the other hand, Ninten was surrounded by too much pain. He couldn't deal with a nagging voice in the back of his head.

 _This is where I break,_ Ninten thought. _This is where it all ends._

How could this have possibly gone any differently? Of _course_ Giygas was going to break Ninten. He just needed some time. Why had Ninten ever thought that he could defeat a monstrosity whispered about only in legends? Why had George and Starman DX sent him in with no chance of survival? He could understand if they didn't _care_ about him, but why would they go out of their way to actively torment him?

 _"Ninten! Can you hear me?"_

 _"Yeah, I can hear you."_

 _"Oh, thank the Divine Rulers. It's Jeff!"_

Jeff? How could he of all people possibly be communicating with Ninten? In terms of closeness, he shared greater bonds with other people than Jeff (Ana's face came to mind, although the pain blurred it). So it didn't make sense for anyone to masquerade as Jeff when they could pretend to be someone closer to him.

Ninten tried to form a coherent thought to respond back with, but the pain always remained at the front of his mind.

 _"Ninten? What's going on? I'm trying to see where you are, but everything's fuzzy."_

Where _was_ he? What was he doing here? The pain suddenly became funny, but he couldn't feel his throat well enough to laugh.

 _"Ninten. I don't know where you are or what you're doing, and it's probably something that I couldn't comprehend anyway."_

Something that Jeff couldn't comprehend? He was the smartest kid in the entire school of people who used their minds to move objects.

 _Huh?_ Ninten thought. _That's funny. The pain's starting to lessen._

 _"Jeff!"_ Ninten transmitted back. _"I don't know what the psych you're doing, but it seems to be helping. Keep it up!"_

 _"Um… I'm just talking."_

Ninten could feel his face again. He touched his cheek and ran a hand through his hair. He took a moment to appreciate just how many strands of hair ran over a single finger to form a smooth, silky texture. In that moment, the pain receded just a bit.

 _"N…i…n…t…e…n"_ came Giygas' unearthly voice. _"You must… turn away…"_

"Okay, you shut the psych up!" Ninten shouted.

 _"Huh?"_ Jeff sent.

"Oh, you can hear me?"

 _"Yeah."_

Ninten swallowed and felt a dry taste in the back of his mouth. He reached down to his chest and saw that it as well was no longer submerged in the black goo.

"Say something!" Ninten said. "Anything!"

 _"You're going to develop schizophrenia, right?"_

"Where did you hear that?"

 _"I have my sources."_ Jeff's smugness rang out amidst the unsettling background noise.

"Call weapon," Ninten muttered, summoning a blade made of ectoplasm.

He stabbed the black goo that still covered his legs and feet with the sword, which didn't yield any visible reaction from Giygas. However, the sword was still intact when Ninten pulled it out of the goo, which Ninten considered to be a minor win.

"To answer your question," Ninten said out loud, "Yes. All mystics develop schizophrenia. In fact, it could be upon me right now."

Ninten dropped his sword without realizing it, and it landed in the goo.

"Everything in front of me," Ninten said. "My meeting with a long-dead great-grandfather and a sentient starman. Your voice now. None of it makes any psyching sense. This could be a _hallucination._ What's more, schizophrenia is often characterized by delusions. I guess I'm egotistical enough to think that I'm the one to defeat Giygas."

 _"Ninten, just listen to yourself! Do you honestly think that you're hallucinating everything in front of you?"_

"That's the thing about hallucinations," Ninten said. "You can never tell. All of this pain…" Ninten looked around at the red and black patterns surrounding him. "All of this suffering…" Ninten laughed. "It could all be fake! Meaningless!"

 _"Ninten, listen to me."_

"No, don't you _see?_ If I can't trust myself anymore, then what can I put my beliefs in? Nobody else is coming to save me, and now I can't even save myself. I'm going to drown in this pit of sorrow, real or fake."

 _"Ninten!"_

The goo level started to rise back up until it covered most of Ninten's chest. The entire lower part of his body throbbed.

"I'm done. I'm psyching _done._ Even with these voices in my head, I just can't…" Ninten laughed. "I give up."

 _"Listen to me! I might just be a figment of your imagination, but I can still figure out when you need a little bit of help. You're a surprisingly sensitive guy, you know."_

"Sensitive? I'm not…" a flash of pain blinded Ninten's vision. "Ah… sensitive to _pain,_ maybe."

 _"You're scared."_

"Of course I'm scared! I'm psyching terrified!"

The black goo rose up to his shoulders, covering some of his arms.

 _"You're scared that you'll lose yourself and descend into insanity."_

"Sure as psych!"

 _"But you're still you, even if you become mentally ill."_

Ninten blinked.

 _"I can tell that you picture schizophrenia as some sort of unfathomable consequence. You see people on the streets who are a little off their rocker, and you don't want to join them because you see how people turn up their noses to those kinds of people."_

"I…"

 _"Even though you play the tough guy, you want to be accepted. Even though you brush others off, you can always see from their point of view, and it overwhelms you."_

"Since when did you become a psychologist?"

 _"Since now. You need help, and I'm here to give it to you."_

The goo level stopped rising. For a single moment, the pain stopped.

Help. Could anybody truly help Ninten? Everything that he had experienced taught him to trust only in his own abilities. When it mattered, other people would leave through no fault of their own. Ninten needed to be strong enough to fend for himself.

 _"We'll still accept you, Ninten, so long as you remain yourself. We don't care if you develop schizophrenia and need some extra help. We wouldn't just abandon you if you broke your leg, right?"_

Well, Ninten could heal his own broken leg with psionics, but he could see Jeff's point.

 _"Listen. You're afraid of the stereotype of insanity."_ Ninten couldn't see Jeff, but he knew that this was the moment where Jeff smiled and pushed up his glasses. _"And when have you ever let stereotypes control you?"_

"So even if this is all a lie…" Ninten said.

 _"Right. We'll still embrace you once you find yourself again. That matters to you, doesn't it? Making sure that you're connected and loved. Schizophrenia won't be easy to deal with, but we'll never see you as a monster."_

"Call weapon," Ninten said.

Another sword appeared in his hand, just as crooked as the last. Ninten stabbed the goo for a third time, and still nothing happened.

 _Of course. I can't do the same thing and expect different results._

Maybe weapons weren't the key. This was the realm of Giygas' mind, where pointed objects mattered little.

Ninten jumped.

He couldn't have said how he did it, but he felt himself flying upwards out of the goo. Of course, this made no sense; the laws of physics required that he jump off of something a bit more solid to have a real impact. But nevertheless, Ninten soared through the air and eventually landed on an invisible platform while red and black skull patterns floated around him.

"Wow, that was easy," Ninten said. "All that I needed to do was take a leap of faith."

 _"Don't get too cocky."_

Ninten looked back at the patterns in the background and smiled. Maybe he couldn't defeat Giygas on his own like he originally thought. He would still scoff at anyone who told him that "friendship was their strength," but Ninten felt stronger knowing that others stood behind him. Perhaps it wouldn't be enough to defeat Giygas, but he would sure as psych go down fighting.

 _"Good luck,"_ Jeff transmitted. _"It's getting harder and harder to talk to you, and-"_

"Jeff?"

The only sounds Ninten heard in reply were the unsettling noises that Giygas made in the background.

"Well," Ninten said. "I hope that everything goes well for you too."

Ninten raised his bent, ectoplasmic sword to the sky. He was one person against the universe, but this one person knew what he was fighting for.

* * *

 **Writing about mental illness is hard. On one hand, I have to make sure to convey that these are normal people going through normal things, and that people with mental illnesses aren't some monsters or aliens that we need to be scared of. But in a way, mental illnesses cause problems that aren't normal at all for many people. These people are suffering from illnesses and it can be incredibly destructive to how they live, which isn't their fault at all. I'm still trying to find the balance.**

 **Thanks for reading if you've been following all this way (or if you haven't!). :) It really means the world to me.**


	49. Chapter 43: PK Love

_What I find stranger about Starman DX is that he appears to have little more power than a starman, despite being an entity older the universe itself. Well, not really older, since once again time can only exist inside a physical universe… can we just agree that when I speak of "time," I'm also talking about the fourth dimension in the psionic realm?_

 _Yes, much easier._

 _Regardless, despite Starman DX's age, he appears to be just another one of Giygas' grunts. He claims that he was wounded in a battle against Lorraine and could never regain his true strength, but I don't know if I buy that explanation._

 _Maybe he's just hiding that power somewhere._

* * *

Jeff Andonuts felt _alive._

In the few moments after Poo's PK Starstorm spread across Ceres, life itself seemed to change. The green grass below looked fuller and more vibrant while Jeff swore that he could make out a silky texture to the blue sky just by looking at it. Cloud grew soft and puffy; the air smelled like honey.

And all the while, a rush of energy made Jeff want to do _more._ Jumping around from screen to screen and handing out last-minute pieces of advice wasn't enough; he needed to burn off his extra energy by working his brain on advancing his plan and running rather than walking.

 _I never pictured you as a gambler, Poo,_ Jeff thought, smiling as he paced back and forth, _But oh boy did your gambit pay off. Giving Mary her spirit back and trusting that she would be scarred enough by her own actions to help you… stupid, yet utterly brilliant._

Jeff reflected on Mary's last words. The more Jeff heard about Lorraine, the less he trusted her. Kumatora didn't seem to have a wonderful opinion of her, and both Fassad and Mary blamed Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire for their situations. But if Jeff moved to oppose her, how could he possibly win? Lorraine claimed that she could match Giygas in power.

Jeff looked back at the screen that showed Poo's situation and gasped. Lorraine's crystal titan stood still in the middle of a sword stroke, but that didn't surprise Jeff. Since Poo drained all of the power out of the crystal, it could no longer perform work.

What surprised Jeff was that Giygas' titan was completely gone.

Jeff tried to take different views of the scene, looking around for a structure made of dark purple starmen. He hoped to find a collapsed pile of them somewhere, but expected to find Giygas' titan simply in a different position.

After minutes of searching, he found Giygas floating by himself, appearing as nothing more than a shriveled up starman inside a grey orb. Jeff let out a cheer. If Giygas was on his own, it probably meant that his titan made of starman corpses disintegrated.

Looking down at the ground below Giygas, Jeff spotted what looked like a layer of ash that was probably composed of tiny starman bits. It gave off an unearthly glow, but Jeff's elation blocked out any notions of concern or hesitation in his brain.

"We did it!" Jeff shouted out loud. "We destroyed _both_ titans!"

"You sound so proud of yourself," he heard from behind.

Even before Jeff turned around, he could tell that the voice belonged to Lorraine. When he whirled around to face her, he saw that she wore a slight frown and a confused look.

Jeff's heart skipped a beat. She was far scarier while restraining her anger.

"Ah, Lorraine!" Jeff said. "I… er…"

"This is why you humans cannot be trusted," Lorraine said, walking circles around Jeff. "Didn't you humans form a group of religions on the basic concept that you're all sinners and got kicked out of a fancy utopia in the sky?"

"Um… I think it's a bit more complicated than that."

"What makes someone a god, Jeff? What makes people worship them?"

"I'm an atheist, so I might not be the best person to ask." Jeff let out a nervous chuckle.

"Power." Lorraine extended an arm and balled her hand into a fist. "Age. Wisdom. I have all of those traits."

"So you see yourself as a god?"

Lorraine snorted.

"Don't be ridiculous. There are no higher forces like the ones that you humans believe. Your religions are so pretentious, do you know that? You believe that you, out of all of the life forms in the universe, are special and chosen. You like to be tested because it makes you feel _important._ "

"Again, I'm not really religious, so…"

Lorraine barked a mirthful laugh, ignoring Jeff.

"So no, I'm not a god." She flashed a vicious smile. "But I'm _your_ god."

"What?"

"I have the power to make people worship me. My subjects were on their _knees_ begging to me to assist them with my mighty power. And do you know what happens when you incur your god's wrath?"

"I was helping you to fight Giygas! Isn't that what you wanted?"

"What happens," Lorraine repeated, "When you incur your god's wrath, Jeff?"

"We, uh… chat about it over tea?"

Lorraine closed her eyes. For a moment, her face became calm, completely devoid of emotion. When she opened her mouth, she spoke in an otherworldly voice that made it sound like the true source of the sound was a million miles away:

"Your time here is up, Jeffrey Andonuts."

Lorraine opened her eyes. Like a statue's, they didn't move around in their sockets like normal eyes did, but unlike a statue's, they radiated a blinding, red light.

The next moment, Jeff felt an invisible force pick him up. He flailed and kicked, but nothing happened. Nothing worked. Jeff _knew_ that his struggling wouldn't help him, and it made his situation all the more painful. He was at the mercy of Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire in this unsettling state of hers.

Lorraine swiveled her gaze, and her eyes locked with Jeff's. Even then, she didn't show a shred of anger or lust. They were the eyes of someone who had died a long time ago.

"May you suffer for all eternity," Lorraine said, her voice echoing despite the open air.

Jeff felt the air whip past his face as his vision swirled and tumbled. He tried to hold his head in place and saw the stories of the stained glass building rise up. He was falling, and it didn't look like he would stop anytime soon.

Jeff rotated his body and looked down at a ground. A small, snaking line of blue among a sea of green. A circle of white surrounded the building, and the blue line bled into the pale circle.

 _I'm not going to hit the ground anytime soon,_ Jeff thought. _I have plenty of time to contemplate my life._

It had been so easy for Lorraine to get rid of him. Why had he ever thought that he could stand up to someone as powerful as the Osohe Queen?

 _But I helped,_ he thought. _I weakened Giygas for her._

She must have known that he distrusted her. Maybe she didn't mind his actions, but she was scared of what he would do in the future if she left him alive. Jeff preferred that explanation. If Lorraine eliminated him out of fear, she at least considered him strong enough to be a threat.

 _Well,_ Jeff thought. _I had better start figuring out what I want to think about in my final moments. Maybe I can even send messages out to the others,_

Jeff closed his eyes as the wind howled in the background.

* * *

Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days. Days turned to years.

Still, Ninten made no progress.

It became harder to remember a life before fighting Giygas. Maybe Ninten Lorune wasn't a real person and it was just a fake backstory that he created to comfort himself. Patterns of distorted skulls flashed by in the background.

A skull, a pattern. What did those words _mean,_ really? Words couldn't capture the blinding pain that came every so often from an attack that he couldn't comprehend. Words couldn't capture the way that the jarring notes that played in the background slowly began to wear down on him. Words couldn't describe how the nausea in his stomach drained all of the determination out of him and turned even raising his sword into a nearly impossible task.

Still, Ninten fought on. He fought so that he wouldn't have to be alone.

At first, he made progress. White flashes of light mixed with blissfully cool sensations. But afterwards, the pain intensified, the patterns sped up and grew more distorted, and the flashes occurred less and less. Ninten imagined himself travelling to the heart of Giygas' Magicant, and the environment grew harsher the closer he got.

Ninten imagined himself standing at the center of Magicant, at the heart of Giygas' core. Time itself seemed to slow; years passed in an eye blink. Ninten continued to thrust his sword into the darkness, but even after a hundred times no flash of white light came to reward him.

Slowly, Ninten could feel his resolve starting to break a second time. He tried to cling onto Jeff's words, but he could barely hear them in his head. He was a million miles away from any living human being. Nobody could save him now, not even Jeff's voice from wherever the psych he was.

"Anyone," Ninten said out loud. "Is there anyone out there?"

 _Okay, I'm talking to myself. I'm officially insane._

"Please," Ninten said. "I'm not strong enough. I've never been strong enough. My dad threatened to kill me because I wasn't strong enough. I…"

Yet another flash of pain. Ninten gasped for breath and found the air thin. No matter how much he sucked into his lungs, it was never enough.

"I don't think that I can do this on my own," Ninten said. "So if there's someone out there, watching me… whoever you are, I need your strength."

More pain. More staggered breaths.

"I need someone. Anyone. Paula, I… I'd give anything to have just another five minutes with you. I'm sorry."

Ninten didn't know what he was apologizing for, but in that moment it didn't matter. He was alone again, just like when his parents abandoned him and Mimmie left him for hours on end.

"I'll keep on fighting," Ninten said. "But I'll need your help. Maybe that's where my hope lies."

* * *

The world blinked in front of Jeff. In one moment, he was falling in front of the stained glass tower. In the next, the tower vanished from sight and Jeff fell through thin air. It took a moment for him to realize that the entire scene changed.

 _Somebody must have teleported me,_ Jeff thought. _But where? Why?_

Was it too soon to hope that somebody was trying to save him?

Jeff looked down and spotted a golden light below. As he grew closer, he recognized it as the golden lake that Kumatora took him to earlier. A ray of hope entered Jeff's heart.

 _Okay,_ he thought. _So either I need to land with my feet first or my head first…_

Jeff tried to orient himself midair, but continued to tumble around without stabilizing his position.

 _Psych. There's nothing that I can push against to stop from spinning._

Jeff took another long look at the golden pond.

 _I guess this might be the end for me, water or no. It was a decent run, I suppose._

Jeff closed his eyes a moment before landing in the water.

He heard the splash around him and felt water streaking past his face, but it didn't feel like he landed in water itself. He had jumped into pools before, and he always plummeted rapidly at first until the higher pressures of the lower water made his ears hurt and forced him back up.

Instead of initial plummeting sensation, Jeff felt more like the water was catching him in a blanket. He slowed immediately following his flop into the water, but at a force gradual enough that he didn't even feel pain. Instead of floating off, he could feel glasses on the bridge of his nose for the entire time. Jeff rolled downwards in the water, almost like he was falling down a slide.

Jeff opened his eyes. Instead of the water stinging his cornea, Jeff could see perfectly and without any discomfort. The water around him radiated a warm, golden light, and at the bottom of the lake lay nuggets of gold mixed with rocks of platinum.

The lukewarm water surrounded Jeff, embraced him. Despite landing on the water in a belly flop, his body didn't appear damaged at all.

 _Psych,_ Jeff thought. _Is this even water?_

Gently, the water carried him back up to the surface. He swam to the edge of the small lake, gasping for air and adjusting his glasses. He stumbled out onto the rocky land to spot two familiar faces.

Kumatora smiled at Jeff, holding out a lens that she had him use earlier to view the outside world just like one of the transparent tables back at the tower.

Behind her stood Diana Carpainter, her arms stretched outwards. Her smile lit up something in Jeff's heart that he hadn't felt for years. It felt like… home at last.

Jeff ran up and embraced Diana. He didn't think of her as the mass murderer who hunted victims for her father's cultist group or even the heavy-hearted warrior who travelled the world atoning for her sins.

He saw somebody that he could trust.

"Diana," Jeff said. "Did you save me?"

"Hey, I helped too," Kumatora said. "Do I get a hug?"

"Uh…" Jeff released Diana and blushed.

"Just pulling your leg." Kumatora smirked. "Let's prepare. I think that trouble is on the way."

"But how did you teleport me over here?" Jeff said. "And why did the water not behave like normal water does?"

"Because we are in the place between physical objects and thoughts," Diana said. "We just imagined you coming to us safely, and it worked. Kumatora was watching you with that Franklin Badge lens."

"Oh," Jeff said, finally accepting the lens. "So I just put this on over my glasses again?"

"Sure as psych," Kumatora said. "I say keep going with your plan. Diana thinks that you've stumbled upon something big."

"The Osohe regard PK Rockin, Starstorm, and Love in a special light," Diana said with a shrug. "Maybe combined with the vast amounts of power available, they can damage Giygas."

"I already took out both titans," Jeff said with a grin.

"Give a man one victory," Kumatora said, rolling his eyes, "And it goes to his head."

"Listen," Diana said. "Lorraine's probably going to come soon. I'll hold her back for as long as I can, but you have to keep working on your plan. Kumatora and I watched her reaction when she discovered what Ana and Poo had done. I don't think that this is just about defeating Giygas anymore."

"You mean that her hatred of me outweighs Giygas' power."

"Don't give yourself so much credit," Kumatora said. "We just think that my mother wanted a lot of power to herself. Victory over Giygas was simply a step along the pathway to universal domination."

"Universal domination?" _But why?_

"Trust me," Kumatora said. "I know her better than anyone alive, and there's a reason for that. She killed off everyone close to her."

"Ah, dear, you don't _know_ that," came Lorraine's voice.

The Osohe Queen stood at the edge of the forest, shaking her head and snapping her fingers in a methodical rhythm. She looked up at Jeff, and he could see that all of the gargoyle-like stillness had fled. She looked like a normal person again… Lorraine sighed and forced a smile. A noticeably _upset_ normal person, Jeff amended.

"You and your friends really have a habit of living when you shouldn't," Lorriane said. "When you were investigating the chimera labs, Juno Monotoli nearly put an arrow through your chest. Claus nearly killed you back in Scaraba. Psych, you walked through the burning streets of Ceres, fought against some of the universe's most powerful psions, and you _lived._ "

"And?" Jeff said. "Does that just boil your blood?"

Lorraine started laughing.

"Did you honestly never stop and think _why_ you're still alive, Jeff?"

Well… no, he hadn't.

"You saw how Dr. Andonuts said that a person was pulling on space, bending the outcomes of the universe." Strings sprouted from Lorraine's fingers, and they held up puppets that bore an uncanny resemblance to Jeff and Kumatora. Lorraine pulled the strings, and the puppets danced. "I trust now that you know who he was referring to?"

"You're saying that you kept me alive through subtle pushes that nobody else could see."

"Exactly! My, you _are_ a smart one. I saved your life multiple times, Jeff, and I did it without even drawing suspicion to you. You should be on your knees thanking me."

"So everything that I did…" Jeff clenched his hands into fists.

"If you believe her, then your triumphs aren't your own and Lorraine was pulling the strings the entire time," Diana said. "But if she really had that much control, don't you think that she would have figured out your plan before Ana and Poo harnessed the power of the first two knives?"

 _That's true,_ Jeff thought. _Even though she claims to hold the universe in the palm of her hand, a teenage boy managed to dupe her._

"Yeah, this is one of her famous tactics," Kumatora said, snarling at her mother. "She gets you thinking about every mistake you made and how much you owe her. That way, you don't focus on what _she's_ trying to accomplish."

"Ah, Kumatora," Lorraine said. "Is that how I taught you to speak to your mother?"

"If my _mother_ was half the person that Jeff is, then maybe I would treat you with more respect." Kumatora stared Lorraine down, her gaze unwavering.

Lorraine didn't respond to Kumatora's glare while Jeff fidgeted in place. The Osohe Queen shook her head once more and adopted a sad smile.

"I don't think that any of you realize just how much you cost me with your little stunt with the Osohe knives," Lorraine said. "Your ignorance almost makes me want to forgive you. Almost."

Diana put a hand on Jeff's shoulder, her muscles tensing up. She must have caught something sinister in Lorraine's tone.

"Don't pretend like you're moral," Kumatora said. "You stabbed Fassad with the knife Phonus and trapped his spirit inside. You manipulated Mary into doing the same. You sent me into the future in a time machine and razed Faldin to the ground!"

"You don't have any proof-"

"The Ceresian city is what's left of Faldin. Why else would the Shard of Ceres be near?"

"It was Giygas," Lorraine said. "I sent you away because I knew that he would strike."

"You cursed your people and turned them into little creatures called Tenda," Kumatora said. "You turned your husband into a _rock._ The list goes on and on, mother. When does it end? How many lives do you need to ruin?"

"Kumatora, I-" Lorraine's eyes flashed with guilt for a second before growing angry. "You think that this is all about _me,_ huh? You think that I enjoy staying here, away from any contact with my people? Everything that I did was to protect them, Kuma. _Everything._ "

"Shut the psych up!" Kumatora said. "You… always do this. You controlled your people by fostering guilt, by never letting them please you fully."

"I think," Diana said, her calm voice cutting through the air like a knife, "That confrontation is inevitable."

"By confrontation," Lorraine said, "You mean that I'll wipe the floor with all of you. I am a being as old and powerful as Giygas himself. I only appear as a human figure now to convey my emotions. Trust me," her voice grew deathly quiet, "I could become your worst nightmare."

"I suppose it's lucky for me that I have so many nightmares that I can't tell which one is the worst," Diana said, smiling at the Osohe Queen. "I, for one, am happy to walk away from this one, but I know your type. The more you talk, the more you think, the angrier you get. Irritations in the morning turn into full-blown catastrophes by evening." Diana's smirk widened. "You scratch at scabs and reopen old wounds. You will never truly heal."

For a moment, Lorraine's face turned deathly white. She recoiled backwards and sneered at Diana in disgust. Jeff could feel the anger radiating from her crazed eyes. Jeff "betraying" her led to a calm, superior demeanor, but Diana's little speech evidently struck her to the core.

"Never… heal." Lorraine broke into mirthful laughter. "You are more correct than you realize, Forsaken One."

Now it was Diana's turn to flinch. But rather than holding in an explosion and letting her anger build, she took a deep breath and returned to a neutral expression.

 _Oh, right,_ Jeff thought. _The starmen called her by that same name, as did Giygas. Did it just mean that she got kicked out of her cult yet the outside world still shuns her?_

"I've… started to come to terms with that part of me, Lorraine," Diana said. "I suspect that I feel similar to how you do every day of your life. We can never truly fit in, can we?"

"Are we going to fight or not?" Kumatora said, cracking her knuckles. "The best way to beat my mother is to avoid playing by her rules. A few smacks to the face might get a reaction out of her."

"Do you even know who you're talking to?" Lorraine raised her arms, and wind flowed outwards from her position, almost knocking Jeff off of his feet. "I want to see you as equals, but when you keep sabotaging me and acting like brats, you leave me no choice!"

Her voice boomed across the lake, causing ripples in the golden water. Jeff's ears rung for several seconds after he heard her voice as he tried to keep a hold of his glasses.

"I could crush you in an _instant_ if I wanted to!" Lorraine shouted, her voice controlled yet laced with anger.

"I don't think you can," Diana Carpainter said.

While Jeff and Kumatora struggled to stay on their feet, Diana didn't seem affected by the wind. Her hair blew backwards, her clothes rippled in the powerful gusts, but she didn't even need to dig her heels into the ground to resist the wind's force on her. She placed her hands on her hips and looked at Lorraine, her expression saying, "Is that all you've got?"

Diana turned back to face Jeff and smiled.

"I love you like a son, Jeff," she said. "It feels so weird to say, but I had to say it at least once before…" Diana drew a shaky breath, bringing her hands up to her chest. "Psych. I am _not_ a strong person."

"Diana! I…" _I love you too,_ Jeff wanted to say. _I love you like the mother that I never had._

The words died in Jeff's throat.

"I'm about to pick a fight that I cannot possibly win," Diana said. "Just like when I resisted Mary when she tried to destroy Fiven, I'm only stalling for time. Do what you can, all right? If Claus and Lucas can harness the power of the last knife, we might have a chance."

"Diana, please," Jeff said. "Don't talk like you've already lost."

"That's the thing, Jeff," Diana said. "Even if I die, I won't lose. Lorraine can only beat us if we can't find a way to stop her."

"She's right," Kumatora said, grabbing a hold of Jeff's arm. "My mother isn't exaggerating when she claims that she's as powerful as Giygas. We need to use our time as well as we can." Kumatora held up a clear lens, the same one that Jeff put over a glasses lens in order to look back at the physical world. "Now it's us pulling the strings."

"Your time is up," Lorraine said, adopting the echoing, distant voice from earlier.

"Polymorph self," Diana said.

For a brief moment, Diana Carpainter glowed with a bright light.

* * *

"Here we are," Lucas said. "The staircase up to what's left of the Shard of Ceres."

Claus' stomach tossed and turned. Even looking at a _picture_ of the structure made him want to barf. Over a year ago, he journeyed to the Shard to figure out what happened to his brother Lucas. After seeing the people that he loved curse him and beg for his help in the illusory trial section, he couldn't look at the building without hearing screams in the back of his head.

But the screams were nothing new. Claus would power through them, just like he always had. One day, he would probably end up as a bitter old man with nobody left to love.

But better that he died _then_ rather than hanging on a rope tied by his own hands.

"Jeff instructed us to go to the top, yes?" Lucas said. "That way, we can absorb the Shard's power along with the Sound Stone."

A sad tune played in the back of Claus' mind, and he felt an _energy_ rush through his veins that made everything look brighter and sound cleaner. He guessed that those were lingering effects from Darius and Poo using PK Rockin and PK Starstorm to affect a large area.

"Yes, he did," Claus said. He looked up at the top of the stairs and shook his head. "Psych, I hate walking. Especially since we were just here."

"Well, we probably didn't want to cross paths with Mary," Lucas said. "It made sense why Monotoli would teleport us away just for Jeff to instruct us to walk back."

It made _sense._ That didn't mean Claus had to like it.

A group of dark purple starmen materialized in front of the twins. Claus groaned, bracing himself for the immediate pain. This type of starmen always led by using PK Starstorm, a power that supposedly only the Osohe had access to.

Sure enough, the starmen manifested PK Starstorm, orbs of light rained down from the sky, and explosions followed. Claus bit through the pain and used his psionic stall to hold onto his life before healing back up with Lifeup. At this pace, Claus might legitimately run out of psionic energy. He and Lucas hacked and slashed at the starmen, with Claus doing most of the blunt hacking while Lucas made clean cuts through starmen flesh with a metal blade he had picked up from the battlefield.

By the time that they finished, Claus was panting. Lucas started walking up the stairs and motioned for him to follow.

"When will these starmen stop following us?" Claus said. His legs ached as he walked up the steps.

"They're everywhere," Lucas said with a shrug. "Our force is losing, especially without Poo's command. We may run into more of them."

"Always the optimist, aren't you?" Claus said. Lucas bounded ahead. "Wait up; I'm exhausted."

"Maybe you should take your breastplate off."

"My breastplate? I feel _naked_ without it."

"The fate of the universe could be on the line here, Claus."

"…It takes a lot of time to take it off."

Lucas waited until Claus finally caught up to his position. Whenever Claus looked away from Lucas and adjusted his gaze back on his brother, he flinched at the sight of Lucas' sword impaled through his chest.

"Are you just going to live the rest of your life with that sword stuck between your ribcage?" Claus said. "I bet _that_ would draw some stares."

"Part of my spirit is trapped in here," Lucas said, tapping on the clear blade of the sword. "The part that keeps me from being a mindless killer. I can't risk what might happen if I take it out."

"Doesn't it hurt?"

Lucas cocked his head.

"It hurts less than it would if I couldn't feel and killed everyone that I saw."

"But it hurts."

Lucas nodded.

"Lucas…"

"You pity me. You shouldn't. I made all of these choices for myself, and I'm glad that you weren't there to bully me into making different ones, despite this atrocious outcome."

Ouch.

"But there is hope," Lucas said, looking up towards the top of the Shard. "Maybe after all of this is done, someone can teleport me to a captive location and scry on me while I remove the sword. If I still stay as myself…"

"Then it will be safe for them to come and pick you up," Claus said.

"It's a small hope," Lucas said, "But a hope nonetheless. I would still consider my fate better than losing an eye."

Claus felt around the spot where his eye used to be. His fingers passed over the leather eye socket, and he could feel the Sound Stone underneath. His eye socket throbbed with pain, but at least the pain was real, immediate. No more political maneuverings and dealing with destructive leaders like Minerva Carpainter. No more self-loathing and depression. Just pure, sweet pain.

"I notice that you can actually stand to be near me now," Claus said.

"Because I have to." Lucas shrugged. "Two people using PK Love will be more powerful than one."

"So you can still manifest that power?"

Lucas smiled.

"We shall see." His expression grew contemplative. "Do you think that you can do it?"

"Do what?"

"Destroy mom's spirit. Jeff said that the spirits inside the knives just dissipated after they were used up, right?"

"He did." _And I'm not sure at all if I'm comfortable with destroying mom's soul._

Lucas and Claus continued to walk up the staircase that led to the Shard of Ceres.

"You want to see her, don't you?" Claus said. "Jeff mentioned that Fassad's spirit appeared before Darius and convinced him to release his power in a way that wouldn't kill thousands of people. You want for mom to do the same to us."

A single tear ran down each of Lucas' cheeks. Other than that, his expression didn't change.

"Lucas?"

"You're right. I know it's selfish, but…" Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"You can tell me." Claus softened his voice. "I promise that I won't hurt you ever again."

"I don't really care about saving the universe. I _want_ to care, and I know that I would have cared a couple years ago, but I just can't anymore." Tears streamed down Lucas' face. "I want to go home, Claus. It's been so long."

So long… so long since the sparrows that flashed the brilliant colors of the rainbow. So long since the cool, mountain air that could calm Claus whenever he took a deep breath. So long since the warmth of a fire burning in the hearth or the smell of omelets. So long since goodnight hugs and bedtime stories. So long since he had seen Lucas' brown knotted in determination or Fuel's sweet smile.

"It all burned and we didn't," Claus said. "Home is gone. Minerva Carpainter desolated the entire planet of Aphrodite."

"I know, I know, but…" Lucas put his hands over his heart. "Maybe mother will appear to us. Maybe she'll say something that reminds me of how we used to be. That's the best I can hope for." Lucas bit his lip. "That's selfish, isn't it? I want to sacrifice mom's spirit just so that I can have another word with her."

"Maybe it is," Claus said. "But I can't blame you for it. Dad died cursing our names. I want to have a few fond memories left of at least one of our parents."

Lucas and Claus reached the top of the staircase. Claus wiped the sticky sweat off of his face and panted for air.

"It's beautiful," Lucas said.

Claus walked up to Lucas and saw what he was talking about. From the entrance of the Shard, he could see the plains transition into the forest nearby and the Ceresian City in the distance. The Gate to Prosperity rose up from the center of town, a thin line that pierced through the purple dome above. Other towers made from crystals of all colors glittered in the light of the Ceresian sun.

A breeze passed over Claus, cooling him off and ruffling Lucas' hair. Lucas looked down at the world beyond the Shard of Ceres and smiled.

"It's just like the Mt. Oriander," Lucas said. "Do you remember? Tazmily looked like dot from high up on the mountain. And this city…" Lucas eyes sparkled. "It's so pretty. Why did I ever agree to become a mindless killer when I can appreciate something like _this?_ "

"We're all wondering that question." Claus gave Lucas a pat on the back. "Are you ready to meet mom?"

"I guess it's now or never." Lucas frowned. "And I see a lot of blood down near the base of the Shard. We wouldn't want more soldiers to die while we stood here looking at the view."

"I'm still not sure what Jeff thinks that this is going to do, but…"

"But better than nothing, right?" Lucas said. "Besides, when someone who's normally quiet speaks up, you know that they have something important to say."

"I wouldn't really call Jeff quiet," Claus said. "But I am sure that he knows what he's doing. I'm so glad that I didn't actually end up killing him back in Scaraba."

Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"You'll have to tell me that story one of these days."

"It would give you and Jeff something to bond over," Claus said. "Hating me."

"I never really hated you," Lucas said, averting his gaze. "I was just scared."

"Are you still scared?"

"Yes, but…" Lucas looked back at Claus. "For once, I have the chance to make things right. After a lifetime of mistakes, maybe we can finally accomplish something real. I'm too excited to let my fear hold me back."

"I feel the exact same way, actually," Claus said.

He took a deep breath and then removed his eye patch. He tossed it out into the wind. Lucas looked at Claus, his gaze unflinching. Claus pulled out the Sound Stone from his eye socket. Now that it was in his hand, Claus could sense the power radiating from it.

"It's a wonder that Amourus was able to mask the Sound Stone's energy," Claus said, holding the knife in his other hand. "But we don't need to hide any longer. What do you say that we hold these artifacts together and use PK Love as one?"

Lucas smiled and grabbed onto Claus' hands. The hilt of the knife Amourus and the Sound Stone lay between their hands, grasped by both twins. Claus felt Lucas' soft skin touch his hand and wrap around. Their hands were squeezed so tightly that Claus could feel Lucas' heartbeat and discovered that it pounded at the exact same time as his own. Claus looked into Lucas' eyes. Without speaking, they both knew what they had to do.

"PK Love," they said in unison.


	50. Chapter 44: Sunflower Fields

_And still, I do not understand how to judge the motives of any of these Ancients. They don't think like humans do. They don't really "think" at all, in terms of the way that their spirits work. They just synthesize information like a computer._

 _Starman DX claims that he wants Lorraine to fall, and I believe him. But I still don't know why we should fear the Osohe Queen so much. I also don't know what he and Giygas will do if we remove Lorraine from the equation._

 _I'll be sure to keep an eye on him._

* * *

Ana knew that she couldn't win this fight.

Her arms ached; her legs ached… at this point, even her brain ached. Even without the power that Darius sucked out of the Ghosts of Starmen, he boasted devastating psionics. He called infernos up from the ground and lightning bolts down from the sky.

Luckily, he didn't seem to have enough power to take control of her body again. Still, Ana suspected that it might not make a difference. With every flick of his sword, Darius pushed Ana back just a little bit. Ana knew her form was better than someone who had learned from street brawls, but her fatigue slowed her down and Darius' psionics gave him enough breathing room that she couldn't take advantage of his mistakes.

"I'll kill you," Darius said, his eyes blazing with rage. "I'll rip off your limbs one by one. I'll rip your heart out of your chest. I'll do-"

Ana didn't listen. She knew that she just needed to survive. Maybe Jeff would send some help her way. He did say that saving the world was a full time job, but hopefully he wouldn't forget about her. Ana looked for an opportunity to teleport away but always saw Darius' sword poised to bat her arms out of the way if she tried.

Darius and Ana exchanged blows. As usual between Ana and someone else, she landed fewer attacks on her opponent but each swing of her axe packed enough punch to keep her in the fight.

After what felt like years, Darius rammed a shoulder into Ana's chest after she missed a swing. Ana didn't even have enough energy to stay standing. She felt her back and head land on squishy starman corpses. Darius stood over her, wearing a hungry grin. He pinned her arms to the ground with his knees.

 _It all comes down to a single blow,_ Ana thought. _Just one mistake seals my death._

Ana nearly laughed. She had come so close to dying on so many occasions. This end result was basically inevitable.

"I have you beaten," Darius said, a frown crossing his face. "Why…?"

"Why am I not devastated?" Ana said, forcing her biggest smile. "Because I never wanted to beat you, Darius. I saved thousands of lives by thwarting your plan. I think that's enough for the day, don't you think?"

"Enough for the _day?_ You won't live to see tomorrow!"

"Death doesn't scare me." Ana shrugged. "I'm on borrowed time."

"You…" Darius clenched his hands into fists.

"You want to force me down, to make me beg," Ana said. "Because that's what people made you do. That's what people made me do. But nobody else can control us anymore, Darius. Think of what you want to do with your life."

"I want to kill you," Darius hissed. "I won't let your words delay me for any longer!"

Ana chuckled and prepared herself for a painful death.

* * *

Diana Carpainter transformed into a creature that Jeff mistook as a starman at first.

He didn't blame himself. She carried the starman's shiny, grey skin complexion and their wavy, tentacle-like limbs. However, she also possessed a number of her former human features. Her grey hair flowed down her back like a cascading river; she wore the same, sad smile that she often did before starting a fight. She possessed hands, but her fingers were soft and wavy just like most starmen's tentacle arms.

"Psych," Kumatora said. "Why would she turn into _that?_ "

"Doesn't it hurt, Diana?" Lorraine said, wearing a smug grin. "The pain. The suffering. The desire to _kill._ "

"I will overcome it," Diana said, her voice mechanical and distant yet with a spark of determination underneath. "I always have."

Diana closed her eyes, held out her arms to the side, and took a deep breath.

"I have no idea what the psych is happening," Jeff said.

"Does it look like _I_ know any better?" Kumatora shook her head. "They might as well be speaking gibberish."

"Do you realize how you got your power, Diana?" Lorraine said. "Your father thrust it upon you. He said that he wanted to create a cult so that he could experiment on humans, and I'm sure that's partly true, but he also wanted to pass his power on and fade away into oblivion. Doesn't sound so bad, does it?"

"My father…" Diana raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, did he _honestly_ never tell you?" Lorraine said. "You poor, pathetic thing! Bearing so much power on your shoulders without even knowing how it got there."

"I know who my father is," Diana said. "Or rather, _what_ he is."

 _Wait,_ Jeff thought. _Diana looks like a mix between a human and a starman. Does that mean…?_

"Is your father a starman?" Jeff said.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Diana flashed a sad smile. "He created a cult that preached how all psions are starmen in disguise, and he was the only one to fit that description."

"But how is that even possible?" Kumatora furrowed her eyebrows. "Starmen are little more than machines."

"Diana's father is no ordinary starman," Lorraine said. "He was an Ancient just like me or Giygas."

 _W-What?_ Jeff thought. _Mr. Carpainter was another Giygas? I guess that explains why he could imitate human behavior better than a regular starman._

"And he passed all of his power onto me," Diana said. "And as a daughter of the Ancients, I will use my power to protect you."

Lorraine smirked and shook her head.

"How noble. But you will crumble if you pick a fight with me!"

By the end of the sentence, her voice boomed in Jeff's ears. Lorraine stretched her arms out and a massive, white ball of energy started to form beneath them. Lorraine closed her eyes and gave off the aura of someone in deep concentration.

"Wait!" Jeff said. "Does it actually need to come to this?"

"I'm sorry. I know that at the end of the day, this isn't really fair, but…" Lorraine's eyes flashed open. Her irises and pupils were missing, leaving just blank balls of white as her eyes. "I need to get this anger out of my system."

Lorraine's posture grew stiff, as if she were one of the puppets that she talked about controlling earlier. She fired the white ball of energy towards Jeff and Kumatora.

Diana sprung into action, firing off a laser beam that collided with the energy ball and created an explosion that sent Jeff flying off his feet. His cheek scraped against the rocky ground as he landed. Jeff bit his lip and forced himself to his feet, trying to ignore the throbbing pain.

In the few moments that Jeff was on the ground, Lorraine and Diana had gone from firing energy at each other to floating above the golden lake. The darted around more quickly than Jeff could see, firing more lasers, missiles, volleys of ectoplasmic arrows… before long, the clash became a blur. Patches of the sky changed colors, switching from green to purple to red. It created an overall image that looked like an alternate form of a sunset, equipped with lavender shades along with the standard red and orange.

"Psych," Kumatora said, squinting. "The power…"

"We need to get away from here!" Jeff said. "Diana might be powerful, but if Lorraine targets us-"

Kumatora shook her head.

"Won't help. Diana put up an invisible dome that locks her and Lorraine together in combat. If Lorraine breaks through, then it won't matter _where_ we are."

"So we have to hope that Diana wins."

"She can't possibly hope to beat my mother." Kumatora looked Jeff in the eye. "You heard her yourself. She's stalling for time. We're all going to die soon."

 _How can she say that without even flinching?_ Jeff thought.

He remembered the panic when Claus chased after him with a massive sword and weary face. He remembered how he felt like barfing every second that he fought against the Ceresian military on the streets. He remembered the first time that he killed a person back in Scaraba. So easy. Just a pull of a trigger.

Death was terrible, inconceivable, and Jeff would never come to terms with it. How could Kumatora possibly accept it so quickly?

"So then what do we do?"

Kumatora took a step forward and stuck the Franklin Badge in her hand onto the right lens of Jeff's glasses. Despite the lack of adhesive, the lens stayed on without slipping.

"Don't you remember, Jeff? We can talk with people in the outside world."

Jeff looked back up at Diana and Lorraine, the two figures of pale and grey. Just as before, their movements were too quick for him to keep track of. Multiple-colored bursts of energy filled his field of vision to the point that he often couldn't make out the people fighting amidst the lasers and explosions.

"Kumatora," Jeff heard in Lorraine's distant voice. "Join me…"

"Shut it!" Kumatora took a deep breath. "You betrayed my entire people. I saw what the tendas act like, mother. Do you remember how they used to be your _people,_ and you turned them into ignorant blue monsters that would attack anyone who tried to enter the Lumine Hall?"

A soft chuckle sounded in Jeff's ears.

"Sometimes," Lorraine said. "Ignorance is bliss."

"You don't even feel _sorry._ " Kumatora spat on the ground and turned back to Jeff. "Come on, Jeff. Let's see how Lucas and Claus are doing."

"Kumatora…"

"I thought I told you to _shut up,_ mother." Kumatora shook her head. "Jeff?"

"All right." Jeff took a deep breath, and then closed his left eye so that he could see entirely through the screen on his right. "Show me Lucas and Claus."

* * *

Lucas could feel the rainbow-colored hexagons of PK Love starting to form. He gripped onto Claus hands, which held the knife Amourus and the Sound Stone between the both of them. Claus shot a look at Lucas, his expression asking, _Are you ready?_

For once, Lucas met his gaze and nodded.

"Let's get the energy out of the Shard first," Claus said.

Lucas nodded and closed his eyes. A massive building stood below and behind him, made entirely out of psionic crystal. Even though the crystal titan fighting in the city had taken out much of the Shard's mass and energy, the amount of power that the single structure contained was still more powerful than anything Lucas had seen before.

And Lucas had seen quite a bit of power in his lifetime.

Once again, his thoughts switched over to Ness. That boy's smile still haunted his dreams. Lucas remembered how it felt when he stabbed Ness through the chest with his sword, how it felt when Ness didn't even _try_ to fight back. Every time he remembered, he resisted the urge to shout right then and there for Ness to fight back.

Why did Ness still haunt his memories? It had saved him from his state as a mindless killer, and Lucas was eternally grateful to Ness for that, but Ness was dead and nothing could bring him back. Why couldn't Lucas just forget about him and leave the pain behind?

The sword impaled through his chest started making the flesh around it ache. Soon, the pain became nearly unbearable. Lucas wanted more than anything to rip the stained glass sword out of his chest, to bring an end to all the suffering that it brought, but he knew that if he did, he might turn back into a psionic savant, into a mindless soldier.

So while the pain certainly did hurt, fear managed to drown it out. Ness and thousands of other people had died on the edge of his blade. Lucas refused to let a single more person suffer because of him.

He hardly noticed as the power of PK Love filled up with all of the energy of the Shard of Ceres. The hexagons started to spread outwards, slowly, like a water spill expanding to a small puddle on the floor.

Lucas' heart skipped a beat.

He heard a cracking noise and felt sharp objects dig into his left hand. He released his grip from Claus (while still holding onto Claus with his right hand), and saw the clear shards of the gem in Phonus' hilt fall to the ground. The knife itself now carried a hole where the yellow gem used to be. When Lucas brought his hand away from Claus', the knife fell to the ground and clattered on the crystal floor.

The next moment, Lucas was no longer standing on the Shard of Ceres.

* * *

Sunflowers. Lucas felt sunflowers brush by his legs. He looked out at the horizon and saw a field of sunflowers that never appeared to end. A world of yellow, a world of peace. The sun shone high in the sky, blanketing Lucas in its warm glow. Lucas closed his eyes and smelled the sweet wind. He realized only then how much he missed the fresh air on Aphrodite. Everything on Ceres was so _dirty._

Something felt… strange. It took a couple moments for him to notice the feeling, and a couple more until he thought to look down at his chest.

The stained glass sword wasn't there.

Lucas could feel a wary grin starting to creep onto his face. He didn't know if any of this was real, but if it were…

Even his clothing was patched up from where he stabbed himself. Lucas ran a hand over his cotton shirt to smooth it out. A light breeze passed over him, bending the sunflowers. Lucas looked all around him, at the light of the sun, at all of the yellow of the sunflowers. So much _life_ packed into one scene. Lucas bent down and stroked the petals of one of the sunflowers, feeling their smooth, delicate texture.

Sunflowers yielded to his touch. Sunflowers yielded to the wind. Yet they still grew tall and strong. Why had Lucas ever thought that he needed to slice off heads and limbs as a way to become stronger? The sunflowers told him the secret right here.

Lucas heard ruffling in the sunflowers behind him and turned around. He gasp when he saw Claus walking towards him with an easy smile on his face, but neither his brother's appearance or the smile prompted the surprise.

Claus had both eyes.

"Claus!" Lucas said.

"I know," Claus said, closing his eyelid and rolling a finger over his new eye. "It's easier to blink without the world going dark. Try holding one eye open and then blinking. The darkness will get on your nerves after a while. But hey!" Claus' face lit up. "You don't have that sword sticking through your chest, either. And you're still the wonderful Lucas that I know."

A few minutes earlier, Claus' praise would have set Lucas' teeth on edge. Now, he only smiled.

"You look just how you did before," Lucas said. "No breastplate, no eyepatch. Is this what we were supposed to become?"

"I don't know if we were supposed to do anything," Claus said, "But I'm just grateful that I got my eye back. I'm seeing clearly for the first time in years."

Lucas ran up and hugged his brother. At first, he felt Claus' body stiffen in surprise, but after a moment Claus embraced him back. Lucas squeezed onto Claus, telling himself that he would never let go.

"When I see you like this," Lucas said, "When I see you smiling and whole… I remember who you really are."

"That's not entirely fair," Claus said. "I did terrible things to you, Lucas, and that's part of who I am."

"You beat me," Lucas said, "You hurt me. But in the end, you still loved me, didn't you?"

"It doesn't matter." Claus breathed a heavy sigh. "My good intentions don't make my actions any less wrong."

"But I still want to forgive," Lucas said. "I know that you messed up, but you were just a child. I don't blame you, Claus. And I might still be scared of you. I might still resent you. But I never stopped caring about you."

"I'll remember this," Claus said. "When I go back to scary guy with an eyepatch and breastplate, I'll probably remind you of the bad times we had rather than the good ones. But I'll never forget how you felt about me when we were kids, before mom died and the pigmasks ruined our lives."

"Claus…"

"Yeah? You can tell me anything."

"I missed you. Ever since mom died, you were never the same. I wanted to see you smile, but I was too scared to say anything." Lucas could feel tears welling up in his eyes. "But you're back. You're the Claus that laughed and played with me, not the one that yelled at me and beat me."

"I'm still both," Claus said. "But I'm trying to be more like the fun Claus."

"That's what really matters, doesn't it?" Lucas said. "You're trying."

"Yes," came a wispy voice to the side. "Sometimes, all you can do is try."

Lucas' heart melted in his chest. He knew that voice. He heard it in his dreams; he heard it in his nightmares. He craved it; he feared it.

But now, the only emotion he could feel was love.

Lucas released Claus and turned to the side, and he already knew what he would see. The ghost of Hinawa floated above the sunflowers with her hands clasped together and a smile on her face. Her eyes were wide, loving. When Lucas looked inside of them, he never wanted to leave the moment.

"I wish I could say how sorry I am for all the pain that I caused you two," Hinawa said.

"M-Mom?" Claus said, his voice softer and more vulnerable than Lucas had heard from him in years. "Is it… really you?"

"Yes." Hinawa floated over to the twins. "It's been so lonely, trapped inside that knife all this time."

"We…" Lucas looked away. "We did this to you. You spirit is about to fade because we're sucking away all of its power."

Hinawa sighed, looking up at the sun.

"It's what I deserve," she said. "Even though I was trapped inside that knife, I could see the world outside. My vision followed wherever Amourus went." Hinawa shifted her gaze over to Claus. "I saw everything, dear. Your fights with your father, your fleeing Aphrodite, your adventure with Ninten… everything."

"So you saw how I treated Lucas."

"I hope that you learn to forgive yourself for that. The burden I placed upon your shoulders was unfair." Hinawa's smile grew. "Most importantly, every time you spoke to this knife when you were alone, thinking that I might listen… I heard every word, Claus."

Claus blushed, and Lucas smiled in support. He didn't blame Claus one bit for talking to a knife. What else could he do when nobody could possibly know how he felt?

"But still," Lucas said. "We're _killing_ you. Claus explained why, but I still… I just… can't…" Lucas bit his lip.

 _Oh, psych,_ he thought. _I can't start crying now. Not in front of Claus and mom._

He tried to stop himself, but his tears wouldn't be denied. They ran rivers down his eyes until Lucas was sobbing.

"I'm sorry," Lucas said. "I know that I should be stronger, but…" Lucas choked down a sob. "We're _killing_ you again!"

"Lucas…" Claus said.

"What? I know that I shouldn't cry! You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's not that." Claus smooth voice caught Lucas off guard. "It's okay to cry. The tears mean that you care."

"Indeed," Hinawa said. "Caring is never a weakness, Lucas."

"But dad said…"

"And how did dad end up?" Claus said. "He bottled up his emotions and then tried to kill _me_ before the pigmasks ended up taking him out for us."

"Claus!" Lucas said.

"It's all right," Hinawa said. "Your father made many mistakes, just as I did. I am sure that he is sorry. Teaching you not to cry was just one of many faults in our parenting.

"Mom," Lucas said. "I…"

He wanted to say more, but the words died in his throat. What could he possibly say that would encompass how he felt in this moment?

"I just wish that we could meet like this again," Claus said. "I wish that we could live in our childhood forever."

"Nothing lasts forever," Hinawa said. "Your childhood was cut short, so you'll just have to cherish it more than other children do."

"But even then," Claus said. "We're not alone. Ninten and the others are all in the same boat. Ana and Jeff lost their parents just like we did."

"Do you think that I…?" A mental block in Lucas' head stopped him from saying the words.

"Yes, I'm confident that you'll fit in with the other kids," Hinawa said.

"Yeah, we need another Ness in our group," Claus said. "And you're the only one nice enough to fill the role. The rest of us are too bitter and jaded."

"Really?" Lucas said. "You think they would accept me, even after everything that I did?"

"Of course!" Claus said. "Who could say no to that baby face of yours?"

"Claus!"

"Kidding, kidding." Claus winked at Lucas. "Mostly."

"I…" Hinawa averted her gaze. "I don't have much time left. Even though you don't realize it, you're pushing on all of the energy that you sucked out of the Shard of Ceres to keep it clumped up."

"We are?" Lucas said.

"Your desire to stay with me," Hinawa said. "It keeps the energy together."

Claus raised an eyebrow.

"Psionic power comes from the mind, Claus," Hinawa said. "Our minds often do not work in the most logical way, so why would psychic energy be so simple?"

"How are we going to beat Giygas with this, anyway?" Lucas said, looking around at the world of sunflowers. "I mean… he's _Giygas._ "

"I'm not sure either," Hinawa said. "But if PK Starstorm and PK Rockin wounded him like Jeff claimed…"

"Then we just have to hope that PK Love will finish him off," Claus said. "A last ditch effort to save our species."

"I hope it works," Lucas said, biting his lip. "If we end up destroying your spirit for nothing…"

"Then it was still worth the try," Hinawa said. "An existence trapped inside of a knife isn't much to miss. I'm glad that I finally get to live again before I die."

Hinawa's spirit started to fade.

"Oh," she said. "I think that I have to go now."

 _No!_ Lucas wanted to shout. _I still have so much more to say!_

"Mom…" Claus said.

 _Please please please,_ Lucas thought. _Is there any way for you to stay?_

"Goodbye," Hinawa said. "I'll miss you dearly. And I know that you shouldn't need my recognition at this point in your lives, but I couldn't be prouder of you. You faced your challenges and grew into marvelous people. I hope that you won't stop improving after I'm gone."

"Goodbye," Claus choked out. "I'll… always remember you."

 _No,_ Lucas thought. _No no no. NO!_

Hinawa offered one last bittersweet smile.

 _THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!_

"Mom!" Lucas finally managed to get out. "I… love you more than anything. Even after…"

Lucas' throat burned from all of the sob noises he made. He tried to force more words out, he tried to tell her that he didn't hold anything against her, but his voice wouldn't come.

 _Even after you tried to kill me._

"Please," Hinawa said, spreading her arms out. "Share that love with the rest of the world."

 _DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE!_

Hinawa closed her eyes and her spirit faded away.

 _Please…_

A white flash of light blinded Lucas' eyes.

 _Please don't go._

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _I can't leave you now. Not after we just met again. So many times I pictured what it would be like to see you again. I thought that we could eat omelets and hug and laugh and play._

 _I thought that we could go back._

 _I'm not ready to go forward._

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _Goodbye, mom._

* * *

Claus appeared back on top of the Shard of Ceres. No more sunflowers, no more gentle breeze.

No more mom.

Claus gritted his teeth. He still had a job left to do. He looked at Lucas and saw that the stained glass sword was still impaled through his chest. Claus couldn't feel his second eye, so he assumed that it was still missing. Had the entire scene with sunflowers and Hinawa just been a dream, a fleeting fancy?

If so, that wouldn't make it any less real.

Claus took a look at Lucas and gave his brother's hand a squeeze. The sound stone lay nestled between their two hands, and the power that it possessed nearly blinded Claus' psionic senses.

Lucas looked back at Claus. The two brothers locked eyes, and they knew what to do. After Hinawa's spirit faded, Claus could tell that they couldn't compress the energy much further. A single hexagon lay floating in the air in front of Lucas, packed with the entire energy of the Shard of Ceres.

"If we add the Sound Stone's power to PK Love all at once," Lucas said, "It will explode. That's what we want, right?"

Claus nodded. Jeff wanted them to propel the energy of PK Love all across the planet of Ceres. By packing all of the energy in and letting it explode, hopefully the energy would spread out on its own.

"But we have to do it at the same time, or it will fizzle out," Lucas said. "We'll still get an explosion, but it will be a smaller one."

True enough. They would get the biggest detonation by packing in _all_ of the energy at once. If part of it escaped before they added the rest of the energy to PK Love, it would function more like a leak than an explosion.

Claus met Lucas' eyes. Tears rolled down his brother's cheeks. If Claus needed any proof that Lucas was actually there in the sunflower fields with him and Hinawa, it was right in front of him. But while Lucas cried, his expression remained hard. He furrowed his eyebrows and tensed his muscles. He squeezed Claus' hand until Claus was scared that he would crush it.

"Are you ready?" Claus said. "The Sound Stone will suck out our emotions and use them to enhance PK Love. We'll want to draw enough power to knock ourselves out so that we don't cause any harm until we can feel again."

"Start at three," Lucas said, his voice ringing with authority. "Suck out the power as quickly as you can at zero."

Claus nodded.

"Three," Lucas said.

Claus kept his eye trained on Lucas.

"Two."

Claus could feel his grip on the compact energy of PK Love start to loosen.

"One."

 _Almost there…_ Claus told himself.

"Now!"

Looking at Lucas face gave Claus strength. He knew that Lucas must be _terrified,_ but the determination in his eyes kept Claus going as well. He mixed calm thinking with excitement to create a blend of logic and emotion that allowed him to pour out the Sound Stone's energy into the PK Love hexagon at a rapid pace.

 _How strange,_ Claus thought. _A little stone stores more power than a lowly human like me can possibly comprehend._

The sound stone emptied; Lucas and Claus released their grip and it dropped to the ground. Before it even hit the crystal floor, the single hexagon of PK Love started to pulsate.

It was going to blow.

At the last second, Claus thought of the people he cared about on a deep level: Ninten, Ness, his mother…

And of course, the boy standing right in front of him.

Claus smiled, seeing the darkness out of the corner of his eye. He would fall unconscious soon, and he wouldn't know the outcome of his and Lucas' gambit until after he awoke.

 _My job here is done. It's up to you, Jeff._

As Claus felt his grip on consciousness slip away, he felt an overflowing love pour into his heart.

* * *

 **The abusive relationship between Lucas and Claus was complicated for me to write about, and in the end I did my best. I wanted to make sure to convey:**

 **-Claus' abusive behavior towards Lucas was not okay, and would not be okay in any situation**

 **-Claus still deserves compassion for everything that he lost and for being a confused child**

 **Anyways, we get a bit of a break from the action here, which is hopefully okay. Back to your regularly scheduled potential end of the world next chapter. :)**

 **Review Response: A Shy Lurker:** Thank you for reviewing! :) Well, we know that Kumatora thinks that Diana is going to die soon, but Kumatora's not the one writing the story so I guess we'll have to see. And we'll definitely get back to Ninten and Giygas soon.


	51. Chapter 45: Eight Melodies

_When Claus and Lucas unleashed PK Love, even the psionic realm shook._

 _Even I, someone whose emotions had long since been drained from me, felt something._

* * *

"Now," Darius said, placing a hand on his chin. "Where should I start? I could cut all of your fingers off, or I could start with slicing up that pretty face of yours…"

"Hexagons," Ana said, looking at the rainbow colored shapes in the sky. "I wonder where they came from."

Darius frowned.

"If you think that's going to distract me, you-"

A force knocked all of the wind out of Ana, but she was sure that Darius hadn't struck her yet. She sucked in air and breathed in heavy gasps.

The next moment, her heart overflowed with love.

She tried to describe it, tried to grasp it, but she only ever got the feeling that she understood a small fraction of what was being presented to her. She pictured waves crashing down on rocky beaches, a cool oasis in the middle of a scorching desert, and a palace of diamond in the skies. She pictured orange skies and butterflies the size of eagles, golden clouds and silver stars.

It was so beautiful that Ana forgot to breathe.

She saw faces of people that she knew, people that she missed dearly. Her parents, Ninten, Tracy, Paula… and of course, Ness. The faces flashed by one by one, looking exactly how Ana remembered them. Ness wore his shy smile while Ninten flashed an impish smirk.

Ana's chest started to heave on its own, even though her breathing rate slowed down. The utter adoration that she felt for these people and places mixed with the pain of not having them anymore. She knew, in that moment, that she would die to get her hands on just one of the faces or locations that flashed before her eyes.

No wonder love bred jealousy.

Ana gritted her teeth. She loved Ness, she loved her parents, but she refused to let it consume her. Grief was natural, but using grief as an excuse to lock herself away wasn't.

 _I've shut away my heart for so long,_ Ana thought, _Locked it in the deepest vault I could find and threw away the key. Now that it's broken free, how can I possibly deal with it?_

With a gasp, Ana returned to the world around her. She no longer saw visions of people or places. She looked around at the field of starmen corpses, their remains glowing with an eerie, black light.

As she took a panoramic view of the scene, she saw Darius looking at the horizon with haunted eyes.

"Darius?" Ana said.

"What did I just…?" Darius placed his hands over his chest. "I…"

 _Oh, so I'm not just crazy._ Ana thought back to the smiling faces and a pang shot through her gut. _I bet he's dealing with the same sort of regret that I am._

"I loved them," Darius said. "I tried to _save_ them. All of those children, with no chance on their own. How could God possibly judge their soul if they weren't shown how to live? But still." Darius looked away. "So many deaths. So many arrests and executions. Should I have done something more? _Could_ I have done something more?"

 _He wasn't kidding when he said that we're similar people,_ Ana said. _He's taken responsibility for the world's suffering, just like I did._

Ana felt another pang shoot through her stomach. She gritted her teeth, nearly falling to her knees.

 _Ness… I should have protected you. I should have saved you. I shouldn't have let… you…_

"AAAH!" Darius shouted, throwing his hands up to the sky. "Why is it _never_ enough?" Tears started streaming down Darius' face. "Why… can't… I ever…?"

With murder in his eyes, Darius lunged over and picked his curved sword off of the ground. Ana looked over at the ground at her axe and lunged for it.

 _Wait,_ Ana thought. _I could teleport away right now. He's so preoccupied with whatever he's doing that I could probably get away without him catching me._

Ana scooped up her axe and looked back at Darius. She let out a gasp upon realizing that Darius didn't mean to turn his blade on her.

Darius closed his eyes and held the sword up to his chest.

"It ends here," Darius said. "I tried to save people, and it changed nothing. I tried to kill people, but it changed nothing. I'm just a grain of sand among millions buried in the desert."

 _Darius…_

"I…" Darius coughed, wiping away his tears. "I loved them. I loved Scaraba, even though it beat me. I love the greens and the browns of the Earth. I loved my mother, even though she abandoned me and left me for dead." Darius shook his head. "If love is supposed to be a good thing, then why does it hurt so much?"

"It does hurt," Ana said out loud. "And I think that's why I haven't let myself feel. There's only room left for self-hated, something that _I_ control." Ana closed her eyes. "Something that will never hurt anybody else."

Even with her eyes closed, Ana could feel Darius' gaze fix on her. She opened her eyes to see the sword trembling in Darius' hands.

"Ana," Darius said. "Why are you still here? You should run from me. I could _kill_ you if I wanted to."

"I'm on borrowed time, remember?"

Ana smiled, but her chest continued to heave. The feelings of longing and jealousy refused to flee.

"I'm ending this," Darius said, raising his sword up. "I was taught that God made everything, cared about everything, _is_ everything. But if he cares, then why aren't we given a fair chance? Why do the poor continue to suffer while the rich get richer? Why do _we_ die and _they_ live?"

"I don't have your answers, Darius. I don't think that anyone does, and I don't even think that there's even a single right answer."

"Then what's the point of living? Why keep up this charade?"

 _I don't know,_ Ana thought. _I ask myself that question every day of my life._

"You feel the love too, don't you?" Ana said. "You know how much it hurts."

"It burns my flesh hotter than the Scaraban Sun ever could," Darius said.

"Because you miss everything that you loved. Your city. The people you knew."

"I'll never get them back."

"I know," Ana said. "I'll never get the people I love back either. But the pain reminds us of how much we care."

"And…?" Darius' eyes begged for more.

"We need to experience sorrow so that we can feel joy. One cannot exist without the other. If everything is happy, then nothing is. Our suffering now exists to make our next love that much sweeter."

"You expect me to just lap that up?" Darius snorted. "You'll have to try harder than that. In fact, you shouldn't try at all. I don't mean anything to you."

Darius raised his sword back up to his chest. Ana fumbled for the right words.

"You tried," she managed to get out.

 _Stupid!_ she told herself. _You panic and deliberate for seconds, and that's all you can come up with?_

"I _tried?_ " Darius said. "What does that matter?"

"Why do you think that everyone adored Ness?" Ana said. "He wasn't the best at psionics. He often struggled with difficult decisions. He didn't lead, didn't inspire awe. So why did everyone feel like a part of themselves died after Lucas stuck him on the edge of his stained glass sword?"

Darius tilted his head, regarding Ana like how a predator would stalk its prey. Ana tried to ignore the unsettling gaze and continued.

"Lucas ended up overcoming psionic savantism and turned back into a regular person," Ana said. "That's not supposed to happen. It's because Ness cared and he tried. Whenever an obstacle landed in his path, he would furrow his eyebrows do everything he could to overcome it. It took him twice as long as most people, but that didn't matter to him. He _never stopped trying._ It's… a trait I wish I had."

Neither Ana nor Darius spoke for several seconds. Eventually, Darius let out a sigh.

"So that's what makes me special?" Darius said, his voice soft yet dangerous. "That I made an attempt? But now I can't even do that."

"You can regain that part of your-"

"Just _listen_ to yourself!" Darius shouted. "You'll say anything to keep me alive. It doesn't matter if it's true; it doesn't matter if it's impractical. I'm sick of all these games, Ana. All life must come to an end, and now is a good time as any."

Ana barely had time to shout as Darius raised his sword one last time.

* * *

King Poo of Dalaam teleported back to the battlefield in front of the Shard of Ceres to find it eerily quiet. He honed in with his Mu senses and tried to detect the psionic auras of starmen. The few that he sensed were scattered and carried underlying tones of distress.

Poo frowned. What could have possibly happened while he was gone?

That was when it hit him. Poo's Mu training had taught him to temper emotions so that he could experience them without clutter, but even that couldn't prepare him for the sheer rush of _feeling_ that watched over him. Poo looked at the world with wide eyes, his heart beating alongside Ceres' natural rhythm. Faces flashed before his eyes, but he didn't recognize most of them.

 _What in the universe?_ Poo thought. _It's like what I did with PK Starstorm or what Darius did with PK Rockin, but…_

Poo took a deep breath. While the music of PK Rockin and the adrenaline from PK Starstorm were mostly unconscious and easily ignored, this rush of feeling blocked out everything else in Poo's mind. For once, he couldn't grasp onto the comfortable emptiness of meditation. He tried to form calm thoughts but couldn't force himself to think straight.

Shaking his head, Poo ran towards the nearest psionic aura. Maybe then, he could find his answers. Poo passed by towers of corpses and destroyed tents, but it didn't take him long to find the first starman.

When he approached the Ghost of Starman, he sensed something off. It wasn't more powerful than a normal starman, necessarily, but it did seem more complicated. It was only when Poo looked with his eyes that he saw the spikes on the starman's head and upper arms. He took hesitant steps towards the starman, wondering why it didn't make any moves to attack him.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the starman said out loud.

Years of Mu training kept the starman's words from catching him off guard, but he needed a second to process the words due to the heaving heart in his chest. Whatever caused the sudden influx of emotions wasn't about to stop soon, Poo figured.

"Who are you?" Poo said. "Why is this place so quiet?"

"This is the land of the dead." The starman swiveled around to face Poo. "Although many of your soldiers survived."

"And the starmen?"

"Easier to show you."

The starman motioned for Poo to follow and walked off. Poo shrugged and trailed behind, soon recognizing that they were heading to another psionic aura. The wind moaned in the background. The only movement that Poo saw was the swaying of grass in the wind.

"Your men regrouped back near the Shard," the starman said, evidently recognizing Poo's unease. "Hurry, or we'll miss it."

Poo nodded and jogged along. He shot a look back at the Shard of Ceres and realized that he couldn't even detect the building's psionic aura. It was powerful enough that Poo could normally detect its influence even from miles away if he tried; he wondered what had changed since he teleported away.

"Your friend Geldegarde Monotoli didn't make it, by the way," the starman said.

"He was not my friend." Poo shrugged. "The beauty of life cannot exist without the inevitability of death. His time was coming soon anyway."

The starman didn't respond. Before long, they arrived at another starman that flailed on the ground. Poo walked lightly on his feet, taking cautious steps towards the second starman. This one, unlike the first, didn't have any spikes. Just a regular starman this time.

 _"Starman DX,"_ the flailing starman transmitted to the spiked starman. _"What are your orders?"_

"Heh," Starman DX said. "I wasn't sure that he would still be here when we arrived."

Poo looked around. Even with his enhanced vision, he couldn't see anything that threatened the starman.

"What's happening to you, starman?" Starman DX asked.

 _"I… malfunction. Strange signals. They push me to act illogically. I want to protect. I want to destroy. Want."_ The starman paused its speech but not its flailing. _"I shouldn't want. Why do I want?"_

"The emotions surging through me," Poo said. "We humans aren't the only ones to feel them."

Starman DX gave a curt nod. "This is the starmen's first exposure to emotion. We don't normally accept the neurotransmitters that you do, so it's not usually a problem, but with PK Love and enough energy…"

 _"Searching for a solution to the malfunction,"_ the starman transmitted. "… _Negative. Initiating self-destruct sequence."_

"What?" Poo said, adopting a combat stance.

Starman DX held up a tentacle behind Poo.

"It's not dangerous."

"What if I don't trust-"

The starman stopped flailing on the ground. Its psionic spirit vanished, leaving behind only a dark purple mass that gave off a black light.

"Oh," Poo said. "That's rather…"

"Anticlimactic? We starmen tend to be."

"But why would it just kill itself?" Poo said.

"Weren't you listening? For us, emotion is a malfunction. When we can't be the perfect soldiers that Giygas needs to be, we destroy ourselves so that we don't accidentally sabotage his plans."

"Did that starman also feel the same pain and longing that humans do when it was exposed to PK Love?"

"Possibly."

"So could that be another reason for why it killed itself."

"We don't really operate in 'reasons' like you humans do." Starman DX shrugged. "There are actions, and then there are reactions. That is all."

"Oh."

"But," Starman DX put a tentacle on his chin. "I suppose it's possible. They weren't thinking straight. Most of them _did_ kill themselves before the allotted time that starmen are given to troubleshoot malfunctions."

"So is that why all of the starmen are dead?" Poo said, looking around at the field of purple corpses. "They all killed themselves when they felt emotions?"

"Yes."

"But you're still here."

"Correct."

Poo waited for Starman DX to elaborate before realizing that the starman had no intention of speaking further.

"So we did it. We won the battle."

"You destroyed all of the starmen in existence," Starman DX said. "And because these were physical manifestations of spirits themselves…"

"We destroyed their psionic essences," Poo said. "We crushed their souls. They're gone forever."

Starman DX nodded.

"We won," Poo said. "Why doesn't it feel like we did?"

"You humans are the ones with feelings, not me."

"Wait." Poo looked up at Starman DX. "What about Giygas? Did the PK Love destroy him, too?"

"Doubtfully."

"Then what's going to happen? If we can't destroy him…"

"I'm sure that you'll get an update soon enough. I need to leave before I end up killing myself like the rest of these starman. See you later, big shot."

"Wait!" Poo shouted, holding a hand out in protest.

Starman DX vanished from sight.

* * *

A white flash of light brought Ninten the first reprieve in what felt like an eternity.

 _Wait,_ he thought. _Something hurt Giygas. I called for help, and something damaged Giygas. Could it be…?_

Distorted skull patterns flashed in the background. A buzzing sound that reminded Ninten of an enraged wasp colony set his teeth on edge.

 _"Not… right,"_ Giygas said. _"Hurts… the pain… N…"_

A shiver ran down Ninten's spine. He had gotten used to many evils in his life, but he didn't suspect that Giygas' unsettling voice would ever be one of them.

"Hey!" Ninten shouted. "I don't know if the white flash was just a coincidence, but could I get some more help here?"

Almost as if by response, the patterns in the background slowed. The bitter taste in his mouth subsided slightly. Ninten saw rainbow colored hexagons appear in a circle around him, spinning around to form a blur.

 _Rainbow hexagons…_ Ninten thought. _Just like when Claus used PK Love._

"Claus!" Ninten shouted. "Jeff! Are you out there? Can you hear me?"

Ninten looked back at Giygas, unable to focus his attention on any one skull pattern. The hexagons gave off a soft glow that counteracted the harsh, vivid reds in the background.

"All right!" Ninten said. "Let's roll with this."

The hexagons shot out into the background, leaving behind streaks of color. The background flashed white multiple times, and as always the torture yielded for just a moment while Giygas recoiled in pain.

"Lifeup," Ninten said, healing some of the damage that Giygas dealt during the flashes of pain that Ninten experienced.

Ninten checked his psionic energy stores and found them nearly empty. Psych, he hadn't even considered the possibility of his body breaking before his spirit.

 _"H A H…"_ Giygas said. _"P A I N."_

Ninten braced himself for Giygas' next move. The hexagons disappeared in the darkness.

For a moment, all went silent.

 _Did we do it?_ Ninten thought. _Did someone else manage to defeat Giygas?_

Ninten's heart pounded in his chest. He knew that it was too soon to hope, but after falling into multiple bouts of despair in pain, hope was the only force that kept him going.

For an excruciatingly long moment, Gigyas faltered.

The next second, the distorted skull patterns reappeared in the background. A flash of pain brought Ninten to his knees.

"Hngh…" Ninten hissed air out between his teeth. "I won't… give in!"

Ninten stood back up, drawing shaky breaths.

 _"Not enough,"_ Giygas said, his distant voice booming in Ninten's ears. _"Never enough. Pain does not hurt. Pain… sweet… H… K I L L…"_

The world in front of Ninten flashed with red.

 _"T…u…r…n…A…W…A…Y…"_

"I'm not done yet," Ninten said.

 _"Try... try t E…"_

"I'm not hiding from anybody!"

 _"Close your eyes… Close your ears… close you T."_

"I…" Ninten coughed. "I don't think that those hexagons quite did it. If someone actually did help me, I could use a little more."

 _" E."_

Another flash of pain sent Ninten lying on his back, grasping at his chest.

"Please!" Ninten said. "I can't… take much more."

Giygas chuckled in the background.

"Please…"

* * *

Lorraine and Diana halted their battle, floating above Amber Lake. Diana looked at Lorraine with a confused expression while the Osohe Queen's eyes widened in disbelief. Her head snapped over to Jeff, and her gaze pinned him in place.

"You," Lorraine said. "Just when I thought that my opinion of you couldn't go any lower…"

"What?" Jeff said. "I honestly don't-"

"What's the PK Love to you, anyway?" Kumatora cut in. "You wouldn't know love if it bitch-slapped you in the face!"

"After all of my planning, all of my suffering…" Lorraine's expression grew dark. "You waste it all on _him._ "

"Waste all of… what on who?"

Lorraine closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

"You'll never know how much pain you caused me, Jeffrey Andonuts! I _trusted_ you. I thought that we could work together! And now…"

Lorraine's expression turned from uncontrollably angry to stone cold in an instant. She closed her eyes, and all of her muscles relaxed. When she opened her eyes, Jeff saw only emptiness behind them. Lorraine flashed a smile, but her icy eyes remained pinned on Jeff.

"I suppose that it's easier to behave like Gigyas does," Lorraine said. "To destroy without remorse. And for some reason, that still garners sympathy."

 _Sympathy?_ Jeff thought. _We're trying to kill him!_

"I suppose that I shall accept his mantle," Lorraine said. "If I cannot save humanity, then I will destroy it."

"If you told us the full story from the beginning," Diana said, her grey eyes locked onto Lorraine, "Then maybe we would have helped you. You knew what we wanted, Osohe Queen. We want to keep our species safe and alive. If you don't tell us your true game, then we'll have to assume that you're an enemy."

"Quiet." Lorraine spoke the word softly, but it carried the iron ring of authority. "I am your god. I brought civilization to the Osohe. I created relics that your people still cannot decipher. Your will does not matter."

"I learned something about religion after I left my cult," Diana said, pressing her tentacle fingers together. "The more you fear a god, the more you descend into hatred and spite. Your iron fist only seeks to create more chaos."

"Well, that's quite fitting," Lorraine said, stretching her arms out to the sky, "Because I am an agent of chaos!"

Lorraine lowered her arms, and a gust of wind knocked Diana back against the invisible barrier that separated them from Jeff and Kumatora. Jeff's heart lurched as he saw Diana's body slam and crumple. Diana dove into the golden water and resurfaced under Lorraine, flying up at the Osohe Queen with dual swords in hand.

"Jeff," Kumatora said. "I know that this is hard to ignore, but we need to keep up our side of the mission. How's Giygas after Lucas and Claus hit him with that PK Love?"

Jeff sent a mental command to the lens over the right part of his glasses and saw Giygas floating around the Ceresian city. His movements looked jagged and disorganized, but he was still alive.

"I think that they killed all of the starmen," Jeff said. "But Giygas is still around."

"Hmm," Kumatora put a finger on her chin. "So even the power of the Sound Stone wasn't enough to stop our alien friend."

"He does look weakened," Jeff said.

"But we can't come close to reproducing the amount of power that the Sound Stone and Shard of Ceres gave us," Kumatora said. "Whatever you think about my mother, she _did_ create some of the most powerful artifacts ever known to the universe."

"Well," Jeff said. "I was just trying to look on the bright side."

"But it's no use. We can't kill him."

Jeff risked a glance backwards at Diana and Lorraine. The two zipped around in the air and slung beams of energy at each other, although they managed to look even more frantic in their movements. More energy beams hit Diana than Lorraine, and the Osohe Queen wore a smug smile that made it look like she was winning.

Jeff and Kumatora needed to figure something out, and quickly.

"I can kind of see what's happening from the other side of the screen," Kumatora said. "Why don't you zoom in on some of the people?"

Well, why not? Jeff looked around at some of the people walking in the Ceresian city. But for some reason, none of them were walking. They all stood still, wide-eyed. Many of them dropped whatever they were holding.

"What's going on?" Jeff said. "It looks like they all just got some incredible insight."

"The PK Love," Kumatora said. "I guess we can't feel it too much from here, but…" Kumatora paused, cocking her head. "Actually, I think we can."

It was only then that Jeff noticed the aching in his heart. A series of images flashed through his mind, all of them representing places or people that he loved. The fluffy snow of Winters. A fire in the hearth. The nervous face of Ness and the smiling face of his mother that he'd never known.

It passed quickly. Jeff examined the people in the streets of Ceres for a second time.

"So they're going through what we just did, but stronger?"

"I think so." Kumatora crossed her arms over her chest. "Think, Kuma. What can that _mean?_ "

"That PK Love is affecting all of us due to all of the energy that Lucas and Claus used?"

"Thanks, captain obvious," Kumatora said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, not all of us can be as smart as you."

Jeff intended it as a joke, but the words came out more pointed than he had expected. Either way, Kumatora didn't appear to notice.

 _"Please…"_

Jeff stiffened, standing straight up. That voice… could it be?

"I think that Ninten just spoke to me from Giygas' Magicant." Jeff played the voice in his mind for a second time. "Yeah, that's definitely him. The PK Love must have weakened Giygas enough for him to get through."

"Is there any way that we can help him? Poor kid has to take on the greatest bedtime story villain of them all."

 _When you put it that way, it sounds a lot less menacing,_ Jeff thought.

"Magicant, Magicant…" Jeff said, walking around in circles. "Don't think about Diana and Lorraine fighting right behind you; think of Magicant…"

"What about Magicant?" Kumatora said.

"There's something." Jeff squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think without the distraction of visuals. "Something that I can't quite put my finger on."

"Well, take your time and think through it carefully."

"Let's talk this through together, Kuma." Jeff tried to ignore the sounds of yelling and fighting in the background. "What's special about it?"

"Well, this is Giygas' Magicant. That's a pretty big deal."

"Have you ever been to a Magicant before?"

"Nope." Kumatora tapped a foot on the ground. "I guess Magicant in general is special because your body can't go there. So Ninten's body must be somewhere else while his spirit is inside Giygas' Magicant…" Kumatora frowned. "I suppose that doesn't help much, does it?"

"Wait," Jeff said. "That's it!"

"Huh? What's it?"

"Magicant is connected to the psionic realm, right? Just like this place?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"We can connect with Ninten's spirit. Space in the psionic realm doesn't work like in the physical universe. Even though we're far away, we can still connect spirits to Ninten's."

"When you say connect, what exactly do you mean?"

"I, uh…" Jeff offered a nervous chuckle. "I hadn't really thought that part out."

"Aren't you supposed to be the scientist? Whatever happened to strict procedure?"

"I'm a desperate scientist!" Jeff said. "This is all just my panicked mind trying to grasp onto something!"

Jeff heard Diana cry out in the background. He clenched his hands into fists, trying to block out the sound. While she was over fighting a battle that she couldn't possibly win, Jeff was accomplishing _nothing._

"Okay," Kumatora said. "Let's think this through. I'm guessing that we'll get more power by bringing everyone together. We all need to focus our thoughts on the same goal so we can use their spirits to bust into Giygas' Magicant."

"Can ordinary people really harness the psionic power of their spirit?" Jeff said. "I mean, they can't use psionics, so how could they use the psionic energy of their spirit?"

"It's not unheard of," Kumatora said. "And I don't have anything better."

"So if we all think about helping Ninten and force our energy into Giygas' Magicant, then he could use some of our power?"

"Puts a new perspective when someone says that their friends give them strength, huh?" Kumatora said, winking at Jeff. "But I say give it a try. We already have our audience captivated."

Kumatora gestured towards the lens over Jeff's glasses. The people on the streets continued to stand mostly still, although some moved around while clutching their chests.

"They're feeling some pretty strong emotions," Jeff said. "Is there a way that we can use that?"

"Ah, you sound like a manipulative leader already. But yes, I think so. I have a plan."

Jeff breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he didn't have to do everything by himself.

"We tell them to sing," Kumatora said.

Jeff blinked, waiting for a goofy smile or a laugh from Kumatora.

"We… get them to sing?" Jeff said. "What will that accomplish?"

"It will bring us closer and connect our spirits," Kumatora said in an overly inspirational tone that could only be a parody.

Jeff snorted. Kumatora's expression reverted back to alert and determined.

"Seriously, there's some actual science behind this," Kumatora said. "Singing promotes group bonding. If we all sing the same song, it will make us feel like we're all on the same team. Why do you think that religious hymns exist? Military songs? It makes us feel connected."

"All right…" Jeff said.

"Come on." Kumatora rolled her eyes. "I even know a great song. It's called the 'Eight Melodies,' and it's designed to ward off evil spirits like Giygas. Just contact _everyone_ and tell them to sing what I'm singing."

Before Jeff could respond, Kumatora burst into song. With her rough voice, Jeff didn't normally picture her as a singer, but after tuning her vocal chords for a few seconds her voice sounded deep and rich. She covered a vocal range spanning several octaves, but most of the song took place around the alto range.

The song didn't contain any words, but it didn't need to. Kumatora laced her voice with a subtle beauty that Jeff could glimpse in brief moments but couldn't appreciate fully. He knew just enough about music to tell that Kumatora's voice was too good for him to comprehend.

When she sang, her voice spoke of mountains that pierced and snowflakes that sparkled in the sunlight, of vast oceans the color of sapphire and massive forests the color of jade. She sang of the universe's beauty without uttering a single word.

For a moment, Jeff stood frozen by the song's beauty.

Kumatora shot him look saying, _Well? What are you waiting for?_

"Sorry," Jeff said, looking back at the lens over his glasses. "All right, screen thingy. Broadcast this song to everyone on Ceres. Tell them to sing along and to pour their heart into it. The longing and love in their hearts need to run free."


	52. Chapter 46: Pray

_Is this why Lorraine created the physical universe in the first place? Did she wish to furnish weapons here that could be used against the psionic realm?_

 _If so, then then the joke's on her._

 _That's the problem with founding one's rule off of chaos, I suppose. Eventually, some events will spiral out of anyone's control. The insecurity… the rush of adrenaline, the open field and uncertainty…_

 _It's both exhilarating and terrifying._

* * *

Ana heard a beautiful tune in the back of her mind.

 _"Sing along."_

Was this… Jeff's doing? What did he hope to accomplish by getting her to sing? Sure, she could appreciate the beauty in the vocal perfection of the singer, who clearly came equipped with a smooth voice and a large vocal range. But really, what could a song accomplish at the end of the day?

 _"Come on, why don't you sing?"_

Ana looked back at Darius. He still held the sword up to his chest, but he hesitated, cocking his head ever so slightly.

Did he hear the song too?

Ana inhaled a gulp of air. She looked around at all of the starman corpses that formed a dark purple carpet on the bloody fields of Ceres. The wind moaned, blowing by and ruffling her clothes. She gazed at the fields of grass, finding no solace in the sea of yellow that swayed in the wind.

Surrounded by only the uncaring wind, maybe song was all that Ana could hang onto.

 _I don't sing,_ Ana thought. _My parents tried to teach me the piano, but I couldn't even manage that._

 _"It doesn't matter how good you are,"_ the voice in her mind spoke. _"Please sing and join together as one."_

Join together… as one? Ana almost laughed. She had fallen so far that she only saw rock bottom when looking up at the skies. How could she possibly join together with _anyone?_

Darius heaved a breath, his eyes wide and his chest tight. Ana looked over at him, at the curved sword in his hand. It was true that she had fallen and could never hope to regain her former grace, but maybe everyone else was the same. Maybe everyone else made mistakes.

Maybe she was _okay_ the way she was.

 _I might as well try this now,_ Ana thought. _After all, I have nothing to lose._

Ana opened her mouth and started singing. She tried to sing along with the simple yet elegant tune that played in her mind. She failed miserably, missing beats and pitches while her voice sounded more like a cat's howl than an actual song.

Ana didn't care.

"Darius!" Ana shouted. "Come on, sing along!"

Darius scowled.

"Maybe _you_ can jump from depressed to elated in a moment, but not everyone suffers your emotional swings."

 _No,_ Ana thought. _This isn't joy, and it didn't come all at once. This is relief, Darius. For years and years I've piled so much weight on my own shoulders. Now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel… wouldn't everyone be excited?_

"Stop singing!" Darius said, covering his ears. "The voice inside my head is painful enough. We're all going insane!"

"Well if all of us are insane, than we don't have to worry about people judging us for it," Ana said. "Come on! Sing along."

"I'm not a child at one of your Ceresian grade schools. Singing is for-"

"Try it, Darius."

Ana continued butchering the notes that came out of her mouth. Darius balled his hands into fists and raised them to punch Ana, but he lowered them after a moment.

"Why?" Darius said, shaking his head. "Even you can pick yourself up after a hard day and walk away with a smile. Even you can participate in this… childishness. Why not me? Am I… all alone?"

When Ana looked at Darius, she didn't see a warrior, a potential suicide victim, or a psion.

She saw a frightened child.

"Sing," Ana said, more softly this time. "There's always someone like you out there. Always. Even when you think that you're alone, you never are." Ana looked into Darius' eyes. "I lost both of my parents and the best boyfriend in the world. I lost multiple friends and I might still lose more. But there are still people who I can care about and who care about me. I can still love."

"Love." Darius shook his head. "Such a foreign word. But if it means that maybe I don't have to feel so alone…"

Darius dropped his sword. Ana heard it land on the ground with a _thud._ He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Darius started singing.

* * *

"Kumatora…" came Lorraine's mangled voice. "I taught you that song. I taught you beauty and joy. And now you use it against me."

Kumatora managed a scowl and looked like she wanted to respond, but kept singing.

"I have it playing on repeat in people's minds," Jeff said. "You can take a break if you want."

Kumatora nodded and cut off her singing with a sigh. She looked back towards the battlefield where Diana and Lorraine zipped around and snarled.

"That's so like you, mother, to think that sharing song and joy with others is somehow a betrayal. These humans deserve to know just as much love as we do. In fact," Kumatora chuckled, "I hope that they can feel quite a bit more love than you're able to."

"Kuma…"

"It disgusts me to even _hear_ you speak my name!" Kumatora turned back to Jeff. "So, is everyone singing?"

"Most people are." Jeff frowned, trying to focus on his task. "I'm taking random soundbites from other people and adding them onto the song into the background."

"Ah, so people feel like _everyone's_ singing it, leading to a greater connection," Kumatora said. "Clever."

"I think that we just need to wait a little bit longer. Soon, they'll all be singing the same tune."

(ILH)

King Poo of Dalaam walked back into his war camp to find everyone singing. He looked around, trying to find someone who could give him a run down of what happened, but he couldn't find a single soldier who wasn't enchanted by the song.

That was when he heard it himself. A collection of melodies, happier than the tune that played when Darius used PK Rockin. He suspected that Jeff had somehow transmitted the song to everyone's minds, and that they were singing along in harmony.

Poo looked at his shoulders and gave himself a mental shrug. In times of strife, maybe people just needed to feel connected. Along with the main melody of the song, Poo started to hear other people's voices in the background. He closed his eyes and reached out with his Mu senses, and he swore that he could see a _web_ through the psionic realm that connected everyone in Ceres.

Poo started singing along. Why not? He was surprised at how smoothly his own voice came out.

The web that he saw in the psionic realm formed new strands to include his location. Between hearing people sing in the back of his mind and singing with his soldiers, Poo felt… whole. For one, beautiful moment, Poo was in harmony with the rest of the human race.

He looked back at the web in the psionic realm and saw it pointing to one location in the middle of the Ceresian town. Thousands of strands connected to that one location.

"Giygas," Poo said out loud.

* * *

Instead of hearing the jarring noises that Giygas produced, Ninten heard a song in the back of his mind. It spoke of wonders that he had forgotten about after an eternity locked inside the abyss of Giygas' Magicant: he saw palaces of glittering ice, a lake that emitted a golden glow, a road paved entirely with glass while fish swam in an aquarium underneath, and a crystal tower that pierced the skies.

At first he just heard one voice in his mind, but as the song drew on, Ninten began to hear other voices chime in. They didn't mimic the song exactly, but Ninten could tell from the passion in their voice that they were _trying._

Ninten heard a low grumble from Gigyas. How anything had managed to pierce its way into the deepest part of Giygas' Magicant, Ninten didn't know, but he wasn't about to question his stroke of good luck now.

"Do you hear that, Giygas?" Ninten shouted. "That's called music. It comes from the heart, something that you would never know about. We sing because we care. You can't block out all of the music in the universe, you know. No matter how far you go, somebody will always stand against you!"

 _"Kill…"_ Giygas said, _"Them all…."_

"You can't," Ninten said. "We humans may not be perfect, and some of us may be assholes like me, but we'll fight against you until the end. The easiest way to beat us is to turn us against each other, you know." Ninten smiled. "We were doing just that, but your starmen came and _interrupted_ us. You gave us a common enemy, Giygas. You saved us from ourselves."

 _"Lies…"_

"Showing your face was the biggest mistake you've ever made. Because right here, right now, I will _end_ you! I may be alone, but I'm never far from help."

 _"LIES!"_

A flash of pain blinded Ninten's vision, but for once he managed to remain standing. He used the last ounce of his psionic energy to heal himself back up.

 _This is it,_ Ninten thought. _It's do or die. A person will laze around and waste their entire life if you let them, but once backed into a corner… I'll show Giygas exactly what we're capable of._

Ninten raised his sword up to the black skies.

 _"Kill them ALL,"_ Giygas said.

"Sorry," Ninten said, pointing is sword forward, "But I'm not about to give you that chance."

* * *

"Okay," Jeff said. "I think that we have everyone singing. Now what?"

"None of this matters," Lorraine said, her voice a robotic screech. "Even if you can save Giygas, I will destroy your race."

 _Save Giygas?_ Jeff thought. _We're trying to destroy him._

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Kumatora said. "Don't listen to her! She's just trying to get to you."

 _Of course she is, but that doesn't make her threats any less scary. Even if we beat Giygas, will we just have another vengeful Ancient on our hands?_

"I get it," Kumatora said. "She's terrifying. But let's focus for now on how to beat Giygas, all right? We have everyone singing together, their spirits connected. How do we transfer that over to Ninten?"

"We, uh, tell them about him?"

Kumatora shot Jeff a dry look.

"You really don't know how to inspire people, do you?" she said. " _Tell_ them about Ninten? Why should they care about him?"

"Because he's risking his own life to try and save the universe."

"Exactly. We need to toy with their emotions, get them to feel bad for him. And we don't do that just by stating the facts. We need to tell them to give their strength to Ninten, that he's standing alone against Giygas and that he _needs our help._ "

Jeff digested Kumatora's words one at a time and nodded.

"I think that there's something more that we can tell them."

"Yeah?" Kumatora said.

"We can tell them to pray for Ninten."

"These people have been mostly atheist since the empire fell, and for good reason," she said. "If someone was out there who truly cared for us, he or she would have made an appearance along with Giygas and Lorraine."

"I'm not saying that a god exists," Jeff said. "I'm not even saying that we need to establish strict principles for a religion. But what happens if we can get everyone to join together and pray for Ninten?"

"Hmm," Kumatora said. "I guess that could work."

"When I tell the people to pray for Ninten, we need to join in."

"Why? It's not like our pair of spirits are going to make the difference between getting through to Ninten and not."

"You care, don't you?"

"Of course. You don't even need to ask."

"Then pray along," Jeff said. "We're bringing everyone together because we want them to care about forming a better universe for us all. If we don't join them, then what does it make us?"

Kumatora rotated her head side to side, appearing to mull over Jeff's words.

"I just don't know," she said. "If everyone is as stubbornly atheistic as I am, I can't really see this working. Only the upper class of Ceres was _allowed_ to be religious until quite recently, you know."

"Trust me," Jeff said. "This is what Diana and Kim taught me. If we can bring people together to love and help, then people will join. The details don't matter, so long as the core message stays the same."

"…All right," Kumatora said. "I'll pray. You _do_ know that religion doesn't really exist in Osohe society, right?"

"It doesn't surprise me. Thank you for being open to the cultures of other species."

Kumatora snorted.

"Get on with it. We don't want to keep Ninten waiting."

"All right," Jeff said out loud, directing his words to the screen on the glasses lens. "Everyone on Ceres, please listen to me. There's a boy named Ninten out there who needs your help. He's fighting Giygas alone, trying to carve a better world for us all. He needs your help."

Jeff paused.

"Yes, that means all of you. Every single one of us needs to give Ninten our strength. He needs all of our help, even if the only way we can assist him is by thinking about him. Please… pray for Ninten. Give him your strength so that he can beat Giygas."

Another pause, a longer one this time.

"Please," Jeff said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Pray for Ninten. Pray for his safety. Give him your strength. He's alone, and he needs our help."

Jeff used a mental command to transmit a picture of Ninten's face to everyone in Ceres. In his mind, Ninten looked relaxed yet determined, wearing a smile alongside haunted eyes. Strong yet weak, competent yet desperate, calm yet passionate. It was the perfect way to show the complexity in his expression.

"A little repetitive, don't you think?" Kumatora said. "Not to mention melodramatic."

"Are you ready to pray?"

Kumatora sighed and shook her head.

"I guess there's a first time for everything, huh? Is there anything special that I'm supposed to do when I pray?"

"Not really. Just send your thoughts out to Ninten."

Kumatora took a deep breath and closed her eyes. By the intense look on her face, Jeff could tell that she took this task quite seriously. He smiled. Kumatora never half-assed things once she committed to them.

 _Now,_ Jeff thought. _It's my turn._

Jeff closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, feeling the soft skin of his hands on his fingers. He took a deep breath and thought of everything about Ninten that he admired and wanted to preserve.

 _Please,_ Jeff thought, not entirely sure who he was addressing. _Please let him be safe. We've already lost so many good people, and if Ninten fails we'll lose thousands more. Please just keep him safe._

 _…_

 _Please._

* * *

As he was singing, Darius heard a voice in the back of his mind telling him to pray for Ninten.

"Ana," Darius said, halting the song. "Ninten is your friend, yes?"

"You heard it too." Most people's eyes wandered around naturally, but Ana kept her gaze fixed straight on Darius. "Yes, he's in there alone. He's fighting Giygas."

 _Giygas…_ Darius thought. _I worked for him, didn't I? How much of that do I regret? I want to believe that he brainwashed me, but I know that he just brought out parts of me that were there from the start._

"Well, I don't think that you can count on ever seeing him again," Darius said.

 _"Give Ninten your strength!"_

"Come on," Ana said, smiling at Darius. "We can cheer for him over here. I trust what Jeff's doing over in the Shard of Ceres."

 _Jeff?_ Darius thought. _Shard of Ceres?_

"Do what you will," Ana said. "But I'm going to pray."

"Aren't you…?"

"A filthy heretic? Yes." Ana's smile grew. "But I trust in Jeff, and Ninten _does_ need our help. The poor kid puts on a brave face, but I know that nightmares haunt him whenever he closes his eyes." Her happy expression faded and turned downcast. "I guess it's no wonder why I befriended him. We both know what that feels like, don't we?"

Ana offered a weak smile. Darius didn't respond, but Ana's display of sorrow inspired him more than her joy. She _did_ feel the same heavy, dull pain that Darius always carried with him. The only difference between the two of them was that Ana stayed true to her beliefs while Darius had abandoned everything that he had known.

 _Oh God,_ Darius thought. _I don't know what to think anymore. All of the evil thoughts in my head just made so much sense at the time. How could I have prepared myself for them?_

Maybe that was his issue. Maybe Darius had spent too much time ignoring what he didn't want to see and shoving his dark thoughts in a tiny box in the back of his mind. Because when that container burst, Darius couldn't stop all of the pain that had built up over the years.

 _I almost killed thousands of people,_ Darius thought. _Why did I ever think that was a good idea?_

Darius squeezed his eyes shut and took deep breaths.

 _But I don't matter anymore. The person who tells us to pray is bringing us all together. I believe that I should heed their call._

Darius paused. Ana was no longer singing. He drank in the silence for a brief moment before continuing.

 _God, please help Ninten. I used to feel you in the air around me, but the only thing I can feel now is the cold. Whoever this Ninten is, he's trying to save us, bring us together. I still believe in a universe where we all have a fair chance. Even though I know that I don't deserve to ask this of you…_

 _Please let me live to see that day._

* * *

Poo's soldiers started praying.

Each one of them stood absolutely still with their eyes closed, absorbed in their own endeavors. Dalaamians believed in religion but no god.

Still, they prayed.

Poo closed his eyes and joined his soldiers. He flushed out all of the thoughts that weighed him down. Any reminiscing of the past or plans for the future became irrelevant. While most outsiders would take several minutes to reach a state of gentle emptiness (if they could achieve it at all), Poo managed to jump into meditation in less than a second.

After a few moments, Poo started to picture Ninten. He honed in on the small details that he could remember. The way that the light reflected off of his sleek, black hair. The way that his normally stiff posture loosened while he and Poo were alone. The way that he shifted his body weight in a fluid motion to reel back and dodge an attack.

Poo didn't try to reason or make connections. Thought was important, vital, but the brain needed a break from cognition every once in a while.

Instead, Poo let himself _feel._

Compassion and concern poured out of him. He opened his eyes with a gasp, and all of the colors looked brighter, their hues more subtle and deep. Poo let himself drink in the details of his surroundings. It didn't take long before he achieved a state of slight elation. He directed the joy, sorrow, and concern at the image of Ninten.

Then, and only then, did he form conscious thoughts about his first friend on Ceres.

 _You're a far better person than I am,_ Poo thought. _And I'll give you all the strength I can to get you out of this alive._

* * *

Ninten felt people cheering him on.

It was a strange sensation, made stranger by the amount of emotion Giygas had sucked out of Ninten with his repeated torture. At first, it started as just an inkling. Within seconds, he heard voices speaking in the back of his head, giving him support.

 _Okay,_ Ninten said. _I am officially, one hundred percent insane._

A pang went through his gut, but Ninten forced it down. It was possible that he was so beaten and pathetic that he needed to hallucinate people supporting him, but on the off chance that it wasn't… Ninten had so few tools left to him that he didn't want to discount the voices just yet.

Ninten sucked in a breath of air. Despite the dry, bitter taste, Ninten felt a weight lift off of his chest. Ever since Ness had told him about mystics developing schizophrenia, Ninten hadn't trusted anything that he saw. Any odd event could be a hallucination and he would never be able to tell. Adding onto the fact that he didn't trust anyone else, it left him without security or comfort in any form. He lived every day of his life wondering if it would be his last.

And now, this day probably _would_ be his last. Giygas was so powerful that he already considered his life, as well as the lives of everyone else living on Ceres, forfeit. Ninten had everything to gain and nothing to lose.

 _"Hurts… S…"_ Giygas moaned.

"It does, doesn't it?" Ninten said. "Don't worry; one of us is going to go down soon. Hopefully it's you."

 _"N…I…N…T…E…N…"_

"I'm listening."

Yet another flash of pain blinded him. His legs collapsed underneath him, and he fell to the ground and landed on his rear. In a panic, Ninten reached for his psionics and barely managed to stop himself. He didn't have any power left, so he would knock himself out if he tried to channel more energy.

 _"Not right…"_ Giygas said.

"Yeah, everything's pretty wrong," Ninten said. "That's what we're trying to fix.

 _"End… End of… G."_

 _I should probably be glad that I can't actually understand the full complexity behind how this thing works,_ Ninten thought. _I'm pretty sure if I knew any more than I already do about this thing, I would piss my pants in terror._

Pictures began to form in the background. Ninten looked at each one, his eyes begging to see something other than the harsh reds and blacks that Giygas displayed to him. Each one depicted people in some sort of prayer, often with their eyes closed and hands clasped together. Ninten looked for people that he recognized and managed to pick out a couple. He saw Ana praying alongside Darius and Poo sitting with his legs crossed and eyes closed.

Ninten's eyes widened as the images rushed to his brain. The images with people's subtle movements and backgrounds of stone and grass reminded him of better times. He had spent so long locked in combat with Giygas that he had forgotten what it really felt like to be alive.

Ninten smiled, drinking in the blues, greens, and yellows of the pictures in the background. Before long, the pictures filled up the _entire_ background and none of the creepy patterns remained. Giygas' Magicant turned into a sphere with scenes of people praying plastered on the insides.

 _"No,"_ Giygas said. _"This isn't supposed to-"_

Ninten gasped, no longer caring about what Giygas was saying. A certain _power_ flooded through Ninten's body. With this new energy, Ninten felt large enough to shake the entire world with a single footstep.

 _What's happening?_ Ninten thought. _Am I… winning?_

In the background, Ninten heard voices.

"Go on and beat that alien freak!"

"We're counting on you, brave child."

"I've never met you before, but I believe in you."

"Please, fight knowing that we're all cheering from the sidelines!"

The words swelled in Ninten's heart, filling him with strength.

 _Either I've lost it entirely,_ Ninten thought, _Or something amazing is happening._

"Listen here, Giygas," Ninten said. "Maybe I was a fool to think that I could take you out alone, but now I have all of Ceres backing me up. For once, we've found something to agree on, and it's that you're going down _right now!_ "

 _"No,"_ Giygas said. _"You can't P…O…S…S…I…B…L…Y…"_

"Keep at it, Ninten!" someone from the background shouted.

"We're all here for you!"

"Don't give up!"

"Shove a boot up Giygas' ass for me, will ya?"

"Their voices are drowning you out," Ninten said. He pointed his sword forward. "You don't stand a chance."

 _"Impossible… I will show you true SUFFERING!"_

Ninten braced himself for the flash of pain, but nothing happened after even several moments. Ninten started laughing.

 _"I can't…"_ Giygas trailed off. _"Not right. Pain should hurt."_

"You can't touch me any longer, Giygas!"

A black sphere appeared in the middle of Giygas' Magicant, right in front of Ninten. It gave off dark wisps with a rancid smell.

 _"I will consume this universe,"_ Giygas said. _"Only then can I rest."_

Ninten looked at the black, smoky sphere, shaking his head.

"Oh, Giygas," he said. "You just made the last mistake that you'll live to see."

The black sphere started to grow in size.

"You don't want to hear why?" Ninten chuckled. "It's easy. You showed me where to aim at."

Ninten stabbed the black sphere.

Immediately, Ninten could hear rumbling from underneath. A powerful gust sent his clothes flapping backwards and nearly knocked him off his feet. He braced himself against the wind, having to close his eyes and blink rapidly to see anything that was going on.

 _"No,"_ Giygas said.

The background filled with scenes of people praying started to fold. Each scene plastered on the spherical wall fell off like a piece of paper and shuffled its way towards Ninten's body. The floor turned into a collage of different scenes on Ceres.

 _"NO!"_ Giygas said.

Ninten gritted his teeth as the pictures of scenes made their way to his body. The way that they moved and slithered on a ground, Ninten viewed them as pieces of paper. But what single piece of paper could display a moving scene equipped with brilliant colors and smooth motions?

"The people of Ceres are giving me their strength," Ninten said. "You can stand up to one of us, but you can't stand up to all of us!"

Once each picture touched his body, it disappeared. For every scene that vanished, Ninten's sword started to glow brighter and brighter. The blade started as a mundane, green color but transitioned to giving off a soft, white glow as the scenes filed in. Eventually, the glow became more and more intense until Ninten could hardly see anything else.

 _The sight of them praying gave me power,_ Ninten thought. _Enough to take out this monstrosity once and for all!_

Ninten took a moment to mutter a prayer, muttering along with the words floating around Giygas' Magicant.

Then, with the loudest shout that he could manage, Ninten drove his sword further into the black sphere until only the hilt stuck out.

Giygas' entire Magicant flashed white, as it did so many times when Ninten wounded him.

This time, it didn't turn back.

All of the unsettling physical sensations faded, leaving Ninten in a state of cool relief. Ninten counted the seconds, looking into the ever-present, blinding light.

Nothing happened.

"Giygas," Ninten said out loud. "I can tell that you want to say something."

 _"…"_

"Giygas?" Ninten said.

 _"…"_

 _"…"_

 _"…"_

 _"It's time for me to go,"_ Giygas said.

"…"

"…"

"…"

 _"Thank you, Ninten."_

 _"…"_

 _"…"_

 _"…"_

 _"G…o…o…d…b…y…e."_

 _".."_

 _"."_

The blinding light faded.

* * *

Ninten found himself standing inside a field of white. No matter where he looked, he could only see the pale color as far as the horizon went. He looked up. White. He looked down. White.

Psych, it made his _skin tone_ look colorful.

Ninten heard delicate footsteps walking towards him. He turned around to see a young woman with long hair and deep eyes standing and smiling at him. Her body looked young, 20 or 25 at most, but something about her expression was wise, ancient.

Ninten nearly bowed in her presence.

"Hello," the woman said.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Ninten asked.

"…" The woman put a finger on her chin and looked up at the white sky. "No. You wouldn't."

"Who _are_ you?"

The woman's smile grew.

"That's always the question, isn't it?"

"This isn't making any sense!"

"Life doesn't always make sense." The woman sighed, smoothing out her robes. "And even beyond life, you will not find any more answers."

"I'm… confused."

"You should be." The woman smiled and ran her fingers over Ninten's cheek. "If you've ever think you understand the universe, you need to start over."

"Who are you?" Ninten said. "If I don't know you, then why are you acting like this? What happened to me?"

"You won," the woman said. "The concentrated power that Giygas held wanted to spread out and kill, which ended up corrupting his mind and leading him to declare war on humans. You cleansed his mind and rid him of those impulses. He won't bother you any longer."

"And how do you know this?" Ninten took a step back.

"It is my job to know things."

"I guess it's not your job to explain them," Ninten muttered.

"…" The woman looked back up at the sky. "I'm sorry."

Ninten blinked. Something about the way that she looked lost in thought made it seem like she was saying sorry for something else. But what else would she have to apologize for? Unless…

Ninten gasped.

"No _psyching_ way."

The woman smiled at Ninten again, her eyes sparkling.

"Oh dear," she said, although she couldn't have sounded less concerned. "I see that you've figured me out."

"There's just no way," Ninten said. "You can't be…"

"Just spit it out."

"You can't be Giygas!"

The woman walked up and put a hand on Ninten's shoulder.

"This is just the best representation of myself, if I extrapolate my characteristics to human appearance and personality." She looked into Ninten's eyes. "So this is as genuine as I can be to my savior."

"But…" Ninten fumbled for words. "You're just a machine! The real Giygas is similar to a starman. You can't care, you can't love, and you certainly can't be _thankful!"_

The woman's smile turned amused.

"You seem so sure of yourself."

"You can't feel emotions!"

"Are you so sure, Ninten? I may not be able to accept the same neurotransmitters that you do, but how different does that make me at a fundamental level?"

Ninten opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"I understand," the woman said. "This must be a lot to take in. Make of this conversation what you will. I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart… and that I'm sorry for all of the pain that I caused. After I settle a score, I promise not to mettle in the physical universe again. Wouldn't do to have my mind get corrupted a _second_ time, now would it?"

The woman started walking away.

"Wait!" Ninten said.

"Hmm?" The woman paused, turning back around.

"Is Giygas your real name?"

The woman smiled yet again, tilting her head to make it look more sincere.

"Call me Senaka. And give Kumatora my regards."

"Kumatora?" Ninten said. "But why…?"

"I hope that you awake to a peaceful world, but don't count on it," Senaka said.

"Wait, what? But didn't I…?"

"I really must be going." Senaka smiled one last time. "Even though I won't ever see you again, I'll always remember you."

Senaka continued walking away.

"Wait!" Ninten said. "Please!"

Senaka faded away from sight.

"There's still so much that I have to ask…"

Ninten looked around at the empty, white world around him. The more he knew, the more questions he had. And even if he spent his whole life trying to unravel the universe, he would never find all the answers. Perhaps he would never hear another word about Senaka ever again.

But maybe that was why it was all so exciting.

* * *

 **Hopefully that was a satisfactory way for Giygas to be defeated. I wanted to incorporate both the Eight Melodies of Mother 1 and how the world prayed for Ness and his friends in Earthbound, and connecting the two made the most sense.**

 **There's still a bit left of Ceres to be had. Giygas has been pacified, but Lorraine has threatened to destroy the human race. So we'll see how that goes. :)**


	53. Chapter 47: Curse of the Ancients

_And thus, Giygas fled back into the psionic realm, like a gopher burrowing underground to hide from the sun's rays. The greatest evil in humanity's mind has been defeated by my own great-grandson._

 _But the battle wasn't over yet. Not by far._

* * *

On Jeff's screen, the figure of Giygas vanished from the streets of Ceres.

 _Did we…_ Jeff thought. Did _we actually beat Giygas?_

"Wow," Kumatora said. "I think that we actually managed to do it, Jeff. Our plan worked!"

A grin spread onto Kumatora's face. She jumped up and gave Jeff a high five.

"It didn't work exactly as planned," Jeff said. "The combination of PK Rockin, PK Starstorm, and PK Love didn't finish him off like I had hoped."

"It weakened him enough for everyone to send Ninten their strength, didn't it?" Kumatora said. "Yeah, it sucks that we ended up destroying the spirits inside of those knives, but we beat psyching _Giygas._ What more could we possibly want?"

 _I don't know,_ Jeff thought. _That's what concerns me. I should feel elated. After all, I did play a key role in bringing down a being whispered of only in legends. And yet, there's nothing._

But if taking down Giygas wasn't enough to satisfy Jeff, then what would be? He always told himself that he wanted to help people and change the world for the better. But now that he had saved the universe from an alien invasion, Jeff only felt exhausted.

 _I guess this isn't the end,_ Jeff thought. _I need to do even more to prove myself._

Even more… Jeff didn't know how much more he could do. Could _anything_ hold meaning for him after witnessing the beauty of Lorraine's realm and the terror of Giygas?

"Aren't you forgetting about somebody?" Lorraine asked.

Jeff and Kumatora jerked their heads around, looking back at the lake. Diana and Lorraine floated stationary over the lake, but it didn't look like a standstill. Diana's shoulders were slumped over, and she sucked in massive gasps of air. Due to her partially starman body, her breathing noises sounded mechanical, like a machine whirring. The golden light danced off of Diana's shiny, grey skin.

On the other end of the lake floated Lorraine, who directed a cold smile at Kumatora and Jeff.

"I never thought that this day would come," Lorraine said. "You chose to save Giygas over me."

" _Save_ Giygas?" Kumatora said. "We just kicked his ass!"

"Oh, how little you know."

Lorraine snarled and fired a massive laser at Diana. Diana cried out and keeled over, her long hair falling over her face and into the Amber Lake. Her muscles tensed and she took ragged gasps.

"Diana!" Jeff said. "Are you…"

"I'm fine," Diana said, kneeling back up on the air and flashing a weak smile.

"You little _brats_ don't know anything!" Lorraine shouted, firing another laser at Diana. "I... was… going to make Ceres beautiful again. I was going to bring the Osohe back to a golden age! But you…" Lorraine's expression turned dark, and her ancient eyes flashed with a shadowy anger that Jeff had never seen before.

"What did we do?" Jeff said. "We beat Giygas for you, just like you wanted. Can't we just live together in harmony?"

"Beating Giygas was _never_ my goal!"

Lorraine summoned a ball of red energy and flung it at Diana, who barely managed to dance out of the way.

"Never your…" Jeff blinked. "What? But he's…"

Lorraine flashed a wolfish smile that reminded Jeff of Kumatora.

"You really think that I care about him? Hah! I thought you were _smart."_

"I've never seen her go this ballistic before," Kumatora said. "Normally she's so high up on her rocker that it drives me nuts.

"Tell me, Jeff. Do you know about the curse of the Ancients?"

"I don't see why that's-"

"When we spend time here in the physical universe, our power turns against us. Energy wants to disperse and create chaos." Lorraine's gaze pinned Jeff in place. "It alters our _minds._ It makes us want to kill."

"I've never heard that before," Kumatora said, taking a step forward.

"Why do you think Giygas targeted you humans in the first place?" Lorraine said. "Do you think that it's because you're special? Dangerous to him? News flash: you're not." Lorraine barked a laugh. "You're inconsequential! Giygas just tried to kill you because the fabric of the universe corrupted his mind and made him want to destroy everything in sight."

 _That can't be…_ Jeff thought. _All of this time, Giygas was… another victim?_

"Don't take her words to heart," Kumatora said. "She'll say anything to get what she wants."

"Oh, I'm not denying that." Lorraine's eyes widened along with her smile, making her look insane. "I'm just sick of holding all of this in. When you beat Giygas, you _healed_ him from that terrible affliction and now he's content to leave you alone."

Jeff breathed a sigh of relief. So Giygas _wouldn't_ come back bigger and stronger after all.

"I suffer from the same curse," Lorraine said.

"You…" Kumatora's eyes narrowed. "Now you're just fishing for sympathy."

"Oh, Kuma," Lorraine said. "Why must you always paint me as the villain?"

"Because you sent me into the future and turned my entire race into a bunch of Tendas!"

"I turned your father into a stone instead."

"That's not any better!"

Lorraine shrugged.

"Again, I won't deny the truth. But why would I want to cast my people away? A power beyond my control was pulling my strings."

"I don't believe you."

"Why do you think that I wanted the Sword of Kings?"

 _To fight Giygas with,_ Jeff almost said, but remembered that Lorraine cared not at all about Giygas.

But if she wasn't planning to turn its power against Giygas, why _did_ she want it in the first place? Jeff tossed around ideas in its head. Maybe she just wanted access to the unparalleled energy packed within the blade, but what would she use it for.

 _Wait,_ Jeff thought. _Could it be?_

Suddenly, everything made sense: why she was furious with Jeff for not giving the Sword of Kings directly to her, why her anger only grew when he unleashed the power of the knives and the Sound Stone, and why she spoke of the curse on her and Giygas in such a desperate way.

"We saved Giygas using the power of the three Osohe knives and the Sound Stone," Jeff said. "You were planning to use that energy on yourself so that you could heal away your destructive tendencies."

"Ah, so you are a little smarter than you look," Lorraine said. Her face twisted into a scowl. "So do you realize now what you've done to me? Do you understand just how much pain I have to bear because of you? I was going to become whole again and now I'll never have that chance!"

For once, a flash of sympathy shone in Kumatora's eyes.

"You mean…" Kumatora shook her head, and her gaze hardened. "No. I won't fall into your trap now. Even if what you're saying is true, you took advantage of my people long before you cast them away. You said that you were here to protect and unify us, but you only ended up dividing us further." Kumatora gestured towards the glowing lake and green forest around her. "You give us beauty, but that's not enough. The Osohe needed freedom, mother!"

"Freedom." Lorraine shook her head. "That was the one thing I could not give. I am your Queen and you were my subjects. I created you from pathetic spirits; I brought you up and cultured you. I gave the Osohe everything, Kuma. They _belonged to me._ " She looked at Kumatora with fiery eyes. "But none of this matters. I lust for death and destruction. I lust for chaos. And you will not stop me!"

Jeff barely had time to shout out before Lorraine darted towards Diana.

* * *

Diana Carpainter struggled to fend off Lorraine and stay alive.

Lorraine summoned a glowing, white blade and whirled it around until it became a blur. She lashed out at Diana, striking again and again. Diana blocked the first couple of attacks with her bow before dropping it into the Amber Lake and summoning a pair of blades.

Diana focused her efforts on darting away and parrying Lorraine's attacks. Soon, she realized that she couldn't possibly keep up with the Osohe queen's pace. Lorraine was faster, stronger, more precise… and just _better_ overall. Whenever Diana darted up or down in the air, Lorraine followed with a twisted glare on her face. Her never-changing scowl almost looked fake.

But could an Ancient like Lorraine truly feel anything? Diana sometimes felt her starman half lurking in the back of her mind, and it was always hollow, empty. It spoke to her in hushed voices, telling her where to aim her bow and what parts of the body to stab when she wanted to kill. Was Lorraine any different, or did she just respond to the same, natural urges to kill?

 _I think that I suffer from the same "curse" that she does,_ Diana thought. _The compulsion to maim and hurt and kill… it's all there, behind my sad eyes._

After a moment, Diana shook her head.

 _But I can't blame all of my killings on my starman half. All of the cultists under my father's thumb killed at his command. I've shown that I can be different. I have no excuses for my past._

Diana tried to twist out of the way of Lorraine's next strike, but she felt a blinding pain as the glowing blade entered her side. Diana fumbled for control of her body and dove under the lake.

She resurfaced moments later, gasping for air. Lorraine flew at her with her sword flashing, and Diana parried the attacks. But each time she flew away or raised her arms to block, she could feel her muscles screaming just a little bit louder for her to stop.

"Are you sure that you don't want to join me?" Lorraine said, slicing into Diana's arm. "Even though I want to destroy Ceres, I might allow you to tag along. Your father passed his powers over to you, probably to get rid of the curse."

Diana didn't need anyone to tell her. She and her sister Minerva had just been an experiment for Apollo Carpainter. He wanted to see if he could pass on his powers, and if he could create mindless slaves that would do his bidding without him needing to suffer from the desire for blood himself.

For decades, it worked. But it ended up being her father's greatest mistake.

"I have this power now," Diana said. "And it's my responsibility to use it."

"Responsibility," Lorraine said. "You mean what _everyone else_ wants you to do with it.

Lorraine smiled, shoving her white blade through Diana's chest. Diana gasped, floating away to remove the sword from her chest. She raised her swords, but they shook in her hands.

 _Psych,_ Diana thought. _I'm really on my last ounce of strength._

Diana gritted her teeth. If she fell, then the barrier surrounding her and Lorraine would fade, giving the Osohe Queen access to Jeff and Kumatora. She would _not_ let that happen.

"You humans want to be your own people," Lorraine said. "You don't let anyone else tell you what to do. You follow your own dreams." Lorraine sliced at Diana's neck, her falsely sweet voice paired with a creepy smile. "You're stupid, selfish creatures. So why do you care about what _they_ want from you?"

"I…" Diana dove down and flew back towards the center of the lake. "It's the right thing…"

" _They_ say that it's the right thing," Lorraine said. "But why should you have to protect _everyone_ with your power? People are inherently evil, and we both know it. Set yourself free, Diana. Don't worry about what other people think about you. Join me." Lorraine extended a hand. "Join the agents of chaos."

"You know that I can't agree to stand by and watch Ceres burn."

"You can, but you won't." Lorraine sighed. "A pity. It will be a shame to kill a being with the blood of an Ancient."

Lorraine darted towards Diana, accelerating from zero to full speed in less than a second. Diana tried to dodge out of the way, but she couldn't gather up the speed to match Lorraine's. Diana braced herself for the pain, but too late she realized that Lorraine didn't intend to stab her.

Lorraine rammed into Diana, grabbing her throat. The Osohe Queen continued to fly forwards until the two smashed into the invisible barrier that Diana put up to separate them from Jeff and Kumatora. Lorraine pressed Diana's throat against the barrier, a feral grin starting to grow on her face.

"Stop kicking and squealing," Lorraine said. "I thought that you wanted to go down with dignity."

 _No…_ Diana thought, resisting the urge to grab at her own throat and instead swinging her blades at Lorraine. _It can't end like this._

A flash of pain blinded Diana. She screamed, and she could feel hot tears rolling down her cheeks.

How long had it been since Diana Carpainter had cried? She had assumed that her emotions had been beaten out of her long ago. Maybe she could muster up a single spark of feeling and smile, but tears? Too innocent for someone like Diana.

Once again, she was the same child at the receiving end of her father's beating. She was the same child who watched her father fry another cultist with lightning simply because he could. Diana remembered looking at the cultist's charred body and nearly barfing. She couldn't make out any of his features.

In that moment, Diana wasn't a daughter of the Ancients. She wasn't a warrior. She was just another sniveling child, powerless to influence the world around her.

 _Just when I think that my demons are dead and buried…_ Diana would have laughed if she had the breath for it.

"That's it?" Lorraine said, ramming her sword into Diana's chest over and over again. "You don't have anything else to say?"

 _Even if I did, I couldn't say it._

Diana kicked and sliced at Lorraine with her swords, trying to do something, _anything._ But of course, Lorraine's expression and resolve did not change.

 _Can't… give up now…_

But Diana didn't really have any other options. She couldn't see Jeff and Kumatora from this angle, but she guessed that they hadn't fled even by now. She didn't think that they would leave her behind, and even if they tried it wouldn't matter once Lorraine broke free. She would destroy _everything._

 _If I lose here, the entire universe is doomed,_ Diana thought. _Doesn't that mean something to me? Can't I draw on some last reserve of strength that I didn't know I had?_

The corners of Diana's vision started to go black.

 _So this… is how it ends. I'm not a hero. I couldn't redeem myself. And on top of that, all of the people I killed would have died at Lorraine's hands anyway. My sins mean nothing. My suffering means nothing._

 _…_

 _Is there anyone out there? Does anyone care about me?_

 _…_

 _Am I… alone?_

 _…_

 _…_

…

Diana's vision went black.

* * *

Kumatora heard a shattering noise behind her, and glittering shards of a clear substance fell down from an invisible wall. Most landed in the water, but some bounced onto the rocks surrounding the lake. Diana Carpainter fell onto the shore with her legs in the golden water but her chest and head on the rocks.

"Oh no," Kumatora said, running towards Diana.

 _You knew that this would happen,_ she told herself. _Everything depends on how well you can play this next part._

Kumatora jumped over clear shards and landed next to Diana's head. Her grey, starman skin shimmered in the golden light of the lake. With her body half starman, Kumatora didn't know where to check for a pulse. She laid Diana's head in her lap and pressed two fingers up to her neck, where a major artery would be for humans.

She felt a small thump in Diana's neck as blood rushed by. Kumatora breathed a sigh of relief. Diana was unconscious but not dead.

"Why do you hang onto these silly humans?" Lorraine asked, her voice coming from behind Kumatora. "This woman killed many of her own race. Why should you spare her any sympathy?"

"She saved my life," Kumatora said. "I can't just ignore that."

"She…" Kumatora detected surprise in Lorraine's voice. "Oh, yes. After you crashed your spaceship and fell into a coma."

Kumatora stood up and turned around, facing her mother down. Her heart pounded in her chest. She needed to play this exactly right, or everything would fall to pieces. If she acted odd or unusual, her mother would notice that something was wrong.

It was difficult to hide information from Lorraine Olvna Var Entiare, but Jeff had told her that she could obscure her thoughts in this realm simply by _thinking_ about obscuring her thoughts. Hopefully, her mother wouldn't pay much attention to the inner workings of her daughter's mind while in a state of rage regardless.

"I won't let you kill her," Kumatora said. "And I won't let you hurt anyone else. If you want to destroy the universe, you'll have to go through me first. PK Freeze!"

Lorraine laughed as ice materialized over her chest and promptly fell to the ground.

"You're so easy to predict, Kuma," Lorraine said. "What makes you think that you can stop me?"

"Diana managed to slow you down, and I'm a daughter of the Ancients too!"

Kumatora wanted to glance at Jeff, but she worried about giving her intentions away. She glared at her mother instead, glad that she didn't have to fake her anger.

"Kuma, Kuma… Even you don't know who I truly am." Lorraine's voice turned pained and mechanical. "Even you don't know what I can do."

Kumatora took a step back. Again, she didn't have to fake the chill running down her spine or the scowl that followed. Maybe this would be easier than she thought.

"I know that I can stop you right here and right now!" Kumatora said, lunging at Lorraine.

Kumatora streaked towards her mother, lashing out with a fist. At the last moment, Lorraine leaned out of the way and Kumatora's fist missed by less than an inch. Kumatora growled, taking another swing at Lorraine. The Osohe Queen dodged once more in a similar fashion.

"I was going to kill all of them for throwing away my one chance to save myself," Lorraine said. "But you, I wanted to spare. It would not be a good example for a mother to kill her own daughter."

"You already showed me some _wonderful_ examples like turning your husband into a rock and reducing your entire people into Tendas!"

Lorraine's smile turned wolfish.

"You're right. I don'. I just don't want to kill you with the two hands that I used to create you."

"Do Ancients even _have_ hands?" Kumatora said. "Who are you really, mother? I know that you're a monster, but what else did you hide from me?"

For a moment, neither one of them spoke. The golden light of the lake danced off of Lorraine's face, giving life to her otherwise cold expression.

"You really want to see how I am, don't you?" Lorraine said. "…You don't know what you're asking."

"I _do._ " Kumatora said. "I want to know who you are. I want to understand the woman who brought me to life and turned on her entire people."

" _Turned_ on my people?" Lorraine said, shaking her head. "After I cleansed myself of this darkness, I was going to make Ceres beautiful again. The Osohe would rise and enter another golden age." She looked up at Kumatora and took a step forward. "And this one wouldn't end. I would do a better job of… raising my people. I was too lenient."

"Too lenient? You say that as you're about to destroy the universe!"

"Maybe I won't." Lorraine chuckled. "Maybe I'll restrain myself and find another way to heal myself. PK Rockin, PK Starstorm, PK Love… I crafted them in hopes of curing myself. And I _did_ find a way." Lorraine's expression turned dark. "But you used it on Giygas, who brought you pain and suffering, instead of me. You obeyed Giygas' will because he was a _threat."_ Lorraine snarled. "I've learned that with you humans, nice people finish last. I won't make the same mistake twice."

"So you're going to kill everyone?"

"It is my curse," Lorraine said with a sad smile. "Now, I believe you said that you wanted to know who I am."

The next moment, the world faded around Kumatora. The lake and trees, Diana's unconscious body… all of it faded into darkness. Kumatora looked down and could still see her own body, but she couldn't see a speck of anything else no matter how far she looked.

A world with just her and darkness… did Lorraine think that this was going to intimidate her?

"This is just like the trial," Kumatora said. "A universe made up only of the dark. Will another path of fire appear to guide me to my destination?"

"…COME CLOSER."

The voice boomed in her mind. Kumatora sucked in a breath of air, telling herself that she _wasn't_ scared. Her mother had used guilt and fear against her for as long as Kumatora could remember; she would _not_ get away with it now.

"STILL CAN'T SEE ME?"

A pyramid of cubes appeared in front of Kumatora, growing thinner and thinner as it stretched to about twice her height. The cubes themselves were white but occasionally flashed different colors.

 _Okay, I was not expecting this,_ Kumatora thought. _What's a pile of cubes doing here? It doesn't look like it could hurt anyone._

"…"

"Mother," Kumatora said. "What game are you playing now?"

"NO GAMES. I SHOW YOU THE TRUTH."

This time, the voice came from the pyramid of cubes itself.

"Why did you put this pile of blocks here, mother? Why are you speaking through it."

"HMM…" Kumatora detected amusement in the voice. "HOW LONG BEFORE YOU FIGURE IT OUT, I WONDER?"

 _…Oh,_ Kumatora realized. _That's a letdown._

"Figure out what?" Kumatora said. "Where are you, mother?"

"SILLY CHILD. THIS _IS_ ME."

"You mean that pyramid of _cubes_ is the thing bringing an end to all human civilization?"

 _Obviously,_ Kumatora added mentally. _Let's see how long I can milk this surprise for._

"INDEED. I AM AN ENTITY FROM THE PSIONIC REALM. IT IS ONLY NATURAL THAT I DO NOT SHARE THE SAME CHARACTERISTICS THAT YOU HUMANS WOULD." Lorraine paused, and let out a dry sound that Kumatora guessed was a sigh. "BUT I HAVE ADOPED YOUR MANNERISMS."

"You really think that you can take us down?" Kumatora said. "What are you going to do, chuck parts of that pyramid at us?"

"IT IS ONLY NATUARL THAT YOU CANNOT SEE THE COMPLEXITY AND BEAUTY IN MY TRUE FORM. YOU ARE BLIND, MY CHILD."

"Complexity? Beauty? You're a pile of blocks!"

"YOUR IDEAS OF SUCH TOPICS ARE RUIDMENTARY, FLAWED. BUT I THINK YOU HAVE SEEN ENOUGH."

The next moment, the cubes and the black world faded around her. Kumatora looked around as the scene with Amber Lake and the nearby forest pieced itself together. The breeze rippled past, blowing her hair back. Kumatora took a look back at Amber Lake, and then turned around to face her mother.

"Do you see what I have sacrificed by creating this world, Kuma?" Lorraine said, looking out at the lake with a wistful expression. "This world is basic, empty. It is like living in a world where people cannot count past five once you've already mastered calculus. The trees, the lake, the water… so basic. So _empty._ "

Lorraine shook her head and turned back towards Kumatora.

"I will make this one last request," Lorraine said, holding out a hand. "Join me. Leave these ugly people behind. I said that I would destroy the universe in the heat of the moment, but please understand that I don't _want_ to. I created the universe, and I created the Osohe dynasty. I'll try to restrain myself while we search for a cure."

The prospect was so tempting that Kumatora almost agreed right then and there. Freedom was sweet, yes, but freedom meant nothing without the life to sustain it.

"Please, Kuma," Lorraine said. "We can go back to the world we used to know."

"…Why do you care?" Kumatora said. "Why did you send me away instead of turning me into a Tenda like the others? Why are you giving me this opportunity now?"

"I love you," Lorraine said. "Isn't that enough?"

Kumatora looked at how Diana's unconscious body slumped over the rocks. Lorraine had done that to her. Lorraine had destroyed the Osohe empire that she created. Lorraine had taken everything that Kumatora loved.

So why did she claim to care _now?_

"You're lying," Kumatora said. "You have to be. I know that you can manipulate that body of yours like a puppet. Everything's so _calculated._ " Kumatora squeezed her hands into fists. "What can I possibly do?"

"My offer is generous," Lorraine said. "I have the universe in the palm of my hand. I created it; I have the _right_ to destroy it. Your continued existence is a gift from me."

 _Oh no you don't,_ Kumatora thought. _You're not the ruler here. Not anymore._

"And this time I'll do a better job," Lorraine said. "I won't let people question my rule."

Did Lorraine intend that comment to provoke her? Regardless, Kumatora needed to take a second and consider her options.

"Ten seconds to agree," Lorraine said. "Otherwise, you all die."

Ten seconds? What kind of ridiculous catch was that?

"Ten," Lorraine said, looking at Kumatora. "Nine."

If Kumatora let Lorraine rule the universe, then she would take away everyone's freedom and force them to live _her_ way. It seemed rather orderly considering that Lorraine claimed to be an agent of chaos, but Kumatora didn't think that she would gain much by pointing that out.

"Eight. Seven. Six."

But at the same time, Kumatora didn't really have the power to stop her.

"Five. Four."

What should Kumatora do? She would rather die than live under her mother's heel, but could she make that decision for the entire human race?

"Three. Two."

Kumatora sucked in a breath of air, the sweet smell on the breeze almost making her barf. Her heart pounded in her chest.

"One."

Only one way to get out of this.

"What about Jeff?" Kumatora asked. "What happens to him?"

"Oh, he can live, same as all the others."

"And you won't do anything to him without my permission?"

"Of course not."

Kumatora took a deep breath. After Lorraine's answer, the decision was easy.

"In that case…" Kumatora said, looking at Jeff. "Absolutely not."

The color drained from Lorraine's face.

"But…" her voice dropped to a whisper. "Why?"

"Cut the act."

"What act?"

"I know you better than that," Kumatora said. "You would never let Jeff live. Not after what he did to mess with your plans, and not after what he knows."

Lorraine averted her gaze, looking down at the ground. After a few moments, she started laughing. It was a rough sound, devoid of any humor or levity.

"I can't believe it," Lorraine said. She looked up at Kumatora with a hungry grin. "Played by my own daughter. I suppose that I should just tell you the truth."

Kumatora leapt over to Jeff and formed a protective barrier around him with her psionics. Now that she had denied Lorraine's request, the Osohe Queen had no reason to keep Jeff alive. He gave Kumatora a curt nod and looked back at the screen covering his glasses lens.

"I was planning to kill everyone," Lorraine said, "And then create an illusion for you to live inside where you still have your friends. That way, I get to hear their screams and you still get to enjoy time with them." Lorraine tapped the side of her head. "I have detailed files on everything in the universe stored in here. I _did_ run the Shard of Ceres for multiple millennia, after all."

"But now that I've figured out, there's no use?" Kumatora said.

"Exactly. I'll just kill everyone, including you."

The casual way that Lorraine spoke made Kumatora wish for her to get angry again. Kumatora could understand an uncontrollable rage, but this cold, sadistic attitude of Lorraine's sent shivers down her spine.

"Go ahead and try."

"I wanted to spare you, but…" Lorraine barked a laugh. "I'm not really your mother, and I'm not even the first Osohe Queen."

"Wait," Kumatora said. "What?"

"I think that I might just tell you, if only to see the stupefied look on your face before you die," Lorraine said. "Your real mother founded the Osohe, but I stole the data that let me create life. Oh, and I wiped all of your memories. That is my right, you know. Everything inside of this universe belongs to me."

"So who's my real mother, then?"

Lorraine chuckled and walked up to the golden lake. She looked out at the sky with the same, wistful gaze as before.

"She loved this place," Lorraine said. "I guess it's no surprise that you do too."

"What is my mother's name?" Kumatora growled.

Lorraine looked back at Kumatora, her back now facing the lake.

"Her name was Senaka," Lorraine said. "But you know her by the name of Giygas."

 _By the name of… WHAT?_

"There it is," Lorraine said. "The look of utter shock on your face. It never gets old."

"It… can't be…" Kumatora shook her head. "But why would you lie about something like this?"

"I wouldn't," Lorraine said. "But I _do_ still care about you. If you beg for your life, I still might take mercy on you alone."

Kumatora gritted her teeth, sucking in a breath of sweet air.

"You know that I can't say yes to that."

Lorraine's expression grew dark. Kumatora once again saw the primal anger that lurked behind her eyes. The formerly sweet air turned bitter, and Kumatora nearly choked on it.

"There's a big difference between can't and won't, Kuma," Lorraine said. "You're a spirit brought back to life, you know. That's what all Osohe are. If you die…"

"Then I fade forever," Kumatora said. "But why the psych should I care? The afterlife sounds boring anyways."

"…" Lorraine looked into Kumatora's eyes, and nothing but emptiness remained in her expression. "Prepare yourself."

Lorraine fired a laser beam at Kumatora. She had seen Diana dodge those during her fight against Lorraine, but Kumatora took the full brunt of the attack. She let out a scream, nearly falling flat on her face. She checked her psionic aura and found it almost fully depleted. She couldn't take another attack like that.

"Life-"

Before Kumatora could finish manifesting the power, Lorraine became a blur as she darted by and knocked her away. Kumatora landed on her feet and nearly fell on her rear before balancing herself. She lunged forward and slammed a palm into Lorraine's face.

Lorraine reeled back, and Kumatora could see blood dripping down her nose. Lorraine looked at her bloody hand and her gaze slowly shifted towards Kumatora. Her knotted eyebrows and puzzled expression gave off the air of someone who was irritated rather than infuriated, which Kumatora found far scarier.

"…Goodbye," Lorraine said.

She fired off a barrage of lasers, each one hitting harder than the last. After the fourth one, Kumatora sank to her knees before falling on her face. Her cheek scraped against the hard rocks on the shore of the pond. She heard footsteps in the background, and looked up to see Lorraine standing over her.

Despite Kumatoara's past experiences with her mother, she expected some sort of reaction out of Lorraine. Triumph, regret, anger… just _something_ would have been nice. But Kumatora looked up at her mother's face and saw the same, empty eyes as before.

Lorraine held a glowing, white sword and pointed it right at Kumatora's head. Still, no expression crossed her face.

 _What would it be like to have a normal mother?_ Kumatora thought, _One who would at least feel something if she tried to kill her own child?_

Kumatora gasped and wheezed, trying her best to maintain her glare.

 _Senaka, Giygas, whatever her name is… Maybe she could have been that person for me._

"One last chance," Lorraine said, her voice booming yet monotone.

"Never," Kumatora said. "You know that I'll never surrender to you."

A flash of regret finally crossed Lorraine's face, just for an instant. Maybe she did feel _something_ for Kumatora. An illogical hope welled up inside her chest. People always talked about the bond between parent and child. Based on her status as an Ancient, Lorraine couldn't feel emotions in the same way that humans could, but maybe she-

Lorraine drove the sword into Kumatora's chest.

Kumatora gasped as her vision flashed with pain. She felt herself lose control of her body; even lifting a finger seemed like more than she could manage. The life fled from her body, fled from her senses.

 _I'm dying,_ Kumatora thought. _Killed by the woman I called mother for my entire life._

"You… still won't win," Kumatora said.

It took all of her energy to get those few simple words out. Kumatora did her best to force a smile despite the searing pain in her chest where Lorraine stabbed her.

"Oh?" Lorraine said, sounding slightly amused. "Why is that?"

"Because all along…" Kumatora coughed. "I've just been stalling for time."

After that last bit of exertion, Kumatora closed her eyes and exhaled on last time.

 _No… regrets…_

Darkness.

* * *

 **Been a while, hasn't it? :) Not sure if anyone's still following this weirdly complicated fic that doesn't have much to do with Earthbound, but I thought I'd throw up these last few chapters.**

 **I hope you all have a wonderful day :)**


	54. Chapter 48: Franklin Badge

_I wonder if this cycle of pain and despair will continue to repeat itself, even if we win._

 _I don't even need to ask that question. Of course it will. The only question is if it will ever stop before the universe achieves heat death._

* * *

Jeff heard a shattering noise and saw Kumatora's body slump over in front of him. He had been so caught up in what he had been doing that he hadn't even paid attention to the outside universe until now.

He gritted his teeth and looked back at the screen over his glasses. Even if Kumatora died, even if he was soon to follow, he needed to hold onto humanity's last chance of survival.

"…Why?" Lorraine said, her voice confused yet distant. She stood over Kumatora's body and shook her head. "I never wanted it to come to this. I'm a god. I should have found some way to prevent this. I _could_ have found some way to prevent this."

Jeff tore his eyes off of her and back at the screen.

"What could I have done?" Lorraine asked, her voice little more than a whisper. "It's your own fault, Kuma. You made me…"

Her gaze snapped over to Jeff. He liked to think that he managed to ignore her gaze, but he figured that he probably just froze in fear instead.

Lorraine took a step towards Jeff.

 _I can't give her the satisfaction of seeing me afraid,_ Jeff thought. _If I have to go down, I'll die with dignity._

"Jeffrey Andonuts," Lorraine said.

The look in her eyes carried with it an ancient, weary anger. It almost looked like some outside force made her clench her fists and narrow her eyes as she looked at him. Lorraine called herself the puppet master, but Jeff could see a force as old as the universe itself pulling her strings.

"Yes?" Jeff said.

"This will be your last moment in this universe. I will enjoy hearing you scream."

The next moment, Lorraine emitted a blinding light.

Jeff closed his eyes.

(ILH)

Poo walked out to the front of the Dalaamian war camp as a squad of Ceresian soldiers approached. They wore white uniforms with gleaming armor and shields, but their clothes were soiled with dirt and blood, making them look weary and unorganized rather than noble and imposing. One of the men wore psion's robes instead of the standard soldier's uniform. He took hesitant steps towards Poo.

"We heard the voice in our head," the psion said. "We prayed along with the rest of Ceres. We prayed to God."

 _Most of my soldiers achieved a state of spirituality too, but few addressed a deity,_ Poo thought. _I don't know if Ceresians will understand the concept of the void, though._

"The prophet told us to join together with everyone nearby," the psion said. "Will you allow us to join you?"

 _"Prophet?"_ Poo tried to hide a smile. _I can't wait to picture Jeff's reaction when he hears this one._

"Of course," Poo said. "I'm guessing that the person behind the scenes knows what he's doing."

"This is God's calling," one of the soldiers said. "He's giving us a new life on this lawless land."

 _I don't know if you were expecting this, Jeff,_ Poo thought, _But you'll have one psych of a portion on your plate when you get back._

The Ceresian soldiers walked past Poo, giving him nods of respect. They filed into the Dalaamian war camp and looked around, as if waiting for their next instructions.

 _Why would Jeff want to gather everyone together?_ Poo thought. _What difference does it make?_

"What's your name?" Poo asked the psion.

"Garan Monotoli, your majesty." The man looked around at the tents and campfires. "I think that this is a large enough group. The prophet wants us all to join together for another mission."

 _Yeah, Jeff did say something like that. I'll bet that everyone inside the city is meeting up as well. But again, why would he want us all together?_

"It's pretty amazing, though," Garan said, looking out into the distance. "We were at each other's throats a few hours ago, and now we're walking together as friends. Maybe God did realize that we needed help and sent someone to unify us."

 _I swear,_ Poo thought. _Is this actually what Jeff intended? I should know by now not to question what goes on in that kid's mind, but it does seem like he wants to form a religion._

"Perhaps he did," Poo lied. "I wonder what we should do next."

Poo sensed a psionic aura appear before he saw the figure materialize out of the corner of his vision. After registering the purple skin tone, Poo leapt back and adopted a combat stance.

There it was in plain sight: another Ghost of Starman. Garan raised his hands to manifest a power.

"Wait!" The starman said, holding up its tentacle arms as if in surrender. "Please. I mean you no harm."

"Yeah, right," Garan said. "As if we would ever trust a _starman._ "

 _Something doesn't seem right here,_ Poo thought. _The starman's actions and speech. They're just too human._

Two more psions materialized behind the starman. Poo raised an eyebrow, taking a step back and preparing himself to call for help.

"Jenny," one of the psions said, shaking his head with a smirk. "Why didn't you listen to us when we told you to let us go first?"

"I'm… sorry," the starman said. "It's just that I…"

"We get it," the other new arrival said. He looked at Poo and bowed. "Your majesty. My name is Walter, and this is Frederick." He gestured to the other psion who teleported in.

"Ceresian renegades," Poo said.

"It sounds so harsh when you say it that way," Walter said. "But yes, I deserted after seeing what Monotoli did to Vulcan, and Frederick here was a Empirist psion."

 _An empirist and a turncoat,_ Poo thought. _They're still probably better people than the majority of Ceresian psions out there._

"And what brings you here alongside a starman?" Garan said, his voice on edge.

"I felt the PK Love," the starman that Frederick called "Jenny" said. "For the first time, I…"

"PK Love granted you emotions," Poo said. "It turned your thinking into something illogical, chaotic." He fixed his gaze on Jenny. "But you didn't kill yourself like the rest of the starmen."

"I didn't," Jenny said. "And now I want to join you."

" _Join_ us?" Garan said. "A starman?"

"She insisted," Walter said with a shrug. "She prayed along with the rest of us in Ceres. We were too busy on our own thoughts to notice her, and she just snuck up on us and joined."

"A ruse," Garan said. "It plans to turn on you. No." Garan's eyes narrowed. "You're working together to sow chaos."

"Your emotions are rather chaotic on their own, aren't they?" Jenny said, cocking her head. "I don't think that I could really create more chaos than the prophet already did."

 _So even the starman calls Jeff a prophet,_ Poo thought. _If someone told me a week ago that this would happen, I would have laughed._

"Stop it with your lies!" Garan said. "You starmen don't know how to do anything but kill."

"If that were true," Poo said, "Jenny would have killed herself once she determined that she couldn't function logically under the effects of PK Love."

Jenny nodded several times.

"Exactly!" she said. "My starman brethren wiped themselves out because they didn't recognize emotions and thought that it would corrupt them, but I saw the beauty."

"Like I said," Walter repeated. "She seemed quite determined to join you after the person who directed us to pray told everyone to meet up."

"Please," Jenny said. "Just let me join you."

"Please don't tell me that you're actually considering this, your majesty," Garan said.

"I think…" Poo took a long stare at Jenny. "I think that we should give the starman a chance. We were told to join up with everyone we could find, right? I see someone willing to join right in front of me."

"But…" Garan sputtered. "He couldn't have possibly meant…"

"That's my decision," Poo said. "But obviously, if any of you three cause trouble…"

"Yes, yes, you'll take off our heads," Frederick said.

"I was more going along the lines of knocking you out," Poo said, "But we are quite prepared in case of a betrayal. I'm guessing that the person who told us to pray will give us further instructions soon, so I shall make my way back to the center of camp to direct my soldiers. You are all welcome to tag along."

"Are we welcome as well?"

Poo jerked around as Ana and Darius appeared to the side.

Ana wore a smile that looked softer than usual. Poo had always pictured her as a warrior who put on brave smiles rather than genuine ones; he could only see her now for her wide, caring eyes and natural grace that was no longer smothered under the mechanical motions she thought others wanted to see.

Darius, on the other hand, looked quiet and determined. He stood with hunched shoulders and looked down at his hands, fidgeting with them and biting his lip. But underneath his vulnerable expression, Poo detected a fire within him that refused to die.

How different they both looked from the last time Poo had seen them.

"Please," Darius said, his voice quiet and hoarse. "I know that we may not belong, but-"

"Everyone is welcome to join," Poo said. "I shall await further instructions from the person who connected us with Ninten once arriving at the center of camp."

"Did we win?" Ana said. "Did Ninten beat Giygas?"

Her eyes asked the real question: _Did Jeff tell you anything about what happened?_

"We'll find out soon, one way or the other," Poo said. "But I have the feeling that we may still have work to do."

* * *

Jeff wasn't dead.

He opened his eyes to see a person standing in front of him, bracing herself as a shield of energy surrounded both of them. A massive, white laser slammed into the spherical barrier and glanced off the sides. In the blinding light, Jeff couldn't make out much about his apparent savior. He could only see that she possessed shiny skin that gleamed in the light of Lorraine's laser beam.

But then again, that one trait was enough to narrow it down to one person.

"Diana?" Jeff said. "Aren't you supposed to be unconscious?"

"Couldn't leave you to die, now could I?" Diana said, her voice strained as she dug in her heels and pressed her hands against the barrier. "I'll defend you for as long as I can."

Even though he felt a dull pain in his stomach from seeing Kumatora's lifeless body earlier, Jeff managed a smile. Nobody had ever been there for him before. Not like this.

"It's not over yet!" Jeff said. "We still have a chance to stop Lorraine before she destroys everything that we know."

"The universe is _my_ creation!" Lorraine shouted, her voice echoing. "I have the right to destroy it."

"You can certainly try," Diana said, coughing out the words. "We… won't give up that easily."

"I should have killed you when I had the chance, but I didn't want my daughter to witness the death of the person who saved her life. This is why nice people always lose in your society. You humans have no gratitude!"

"You'll finish last even if you accomplish your goal," Jeff said. "Do you think that you'll be happy once you've destroyed the universe?" He bared his teeth at Lorraine, even though he doubted that she could see. "Just ask me or Ana what it's like to always want _more._ You think that you'll be satisfied once you go just a little bit further, but you never will be."

"SILENCE!" The blinding light faded, and Lorraine lowered her arms in the distance. She looked over at Jeff and Diana, her motions mechanical. "You have no power over me. _Nobody_ has power over me. Do you psyching understand?"

Nobody said a word. Amber Lake sparkled with a light that now seemed fake as the tension in Lorraine's expression grew.

"I said _do you understand?"_ Lorraine repeated.

"I thought that you wanted silence," Jeff said.

"Why you little…" Lorraine waved a hand, and the entire scene vanished.

Jeff, Diana, and Lorraine now stood on a completely black plane. Wherever Jeff looked, he couldn't see a speck of light, yet somehow his body as well as Diana's and Lorraine's were as visible as ever.

Small fires lit up in a circle around Lorraine, flickering like candles. The Osohe Queen closed her eyes and floated off of the invisible ground, bobbing up and down ever so slightly. She smiled at Jeff and Diana, her eyes still closed.

"This is like the trials that you faced in the Shard of Ceres," Lorraine said. "I'm sure you remember walking down the fire-lit path and facing your worst nightmares."

"On the contrary," Jeff said. "I met people that I thought I'd never have the opportunity to know."

Lorraine chuckled, her high voice echoing throughout the area.

"They were lies," Lorraine said. "Lies designed to target you, to make you hurt."

"When I saw my mother, I-"

"You hurt because you couldn't see her for longer. I reopened an old wound, Jeff. Good luck closing it… although I won't ever give you that chance."

 _You're a fool,_ Jeff thought. _Joy cannot exist without sorrow. If you think that watching the people I love fade away will break me, you don't know just how strong we humans can be!_

"The point is," Lorraine said, her eyes still closed as she floated above the ground. "I can show you emptiness. I can show you destruction. I'll take away everything you know. I'll take away everything you _love._ "

Lorraine split into several different versions of herself. They walked forward and held hands, making a circle around Jeff and Diana while the original Lorraine floated above the circle of fire. Slowly, the Lorraine replicas started to close in.

"Don't worry," Diana said. "They can't break through my PSI shield."

"I wouldn't be so sure," all of the Lorraine replicas chanted in unison. "We will erase you, who have brought harm to the mother of the universe."

The replicas spoke in empty voices and emptier eyes. They flashed cold smiles as they took synchronized steps towards Diana and Jeff.

"I'll kill them," Diana said, although her voice shook. "I'll keep you safe, Jeff."

"We will find you," the replicas chanted, their voices disturbingly childlike. "We will tear off your limbs. We will laugh while you bleed. We will burn your flesh and cut out your eyes. We will drink your blood and feast on your screams. We will take _everything_ from you." The replicas paused. "And then, finally, you shall beg for death, and we will oblige. Such is our mercy."

The replicas took more steps forward until they couldn't fit in a single circle. They split into two rings, inching closer and closer towards Jeff and Diana. Jeff looked at the original Lorraine, who wore an empty expression while she floated above the ring of fire.

 _She knows that the slow waits are the most agonizing,_ Jeff thought. _She's either trying to demoralize us or play with her food. Either way, it gives me the opportunity that I need._

"Don't worry, Jeff," Diana said, taking a step backwards. "I'll keep you safe. Nothing's going to happen to you."

"Everything already has happened to me, Diana," Jeff said. "Don't worry; I can handle myself."

Jeff looked back into the transparent Franklin Badge over his glasses and saw large groups of people standing together and looking up to the sky, as if waiting for his instruction.

 _I… guess they are waiting for me to say something,_ Jeff thought. _Let's see how far I can take them._

"Think about a boy named Ness," Jeff said.

(ILH)

 _"Think about a boy named Ness."_

Poo stood on top of a small hill, soldiers both Ceresian and Dalaamian surrounding him at every side. Ana stood to his right while the starman who called herself Jenny stood on his left.

Poo shot a glance over to Ana, and she nodded. Everyone had heard Jeff's message.

 _"Look at his face."_

A picture of Ness' face popped up in Poo's mind. Ness carried his usual expression, shy and reserved yet smiling and determined. While others called him weak and dependent, Poo always pictured him as the strong but silent type. If he could choose to put his life in anyone's hands, it would be Ness.

 _"Think about a girl named Paula. Look at her face."_

An image of Paula popped up in Poo's mind. Instantly, he tasted bile in the back of his throat and nearly vomited. The next moment, he was back in Dalaam, with General Kim holding a knife up to Paula's throat with a sick smile on his face. Rage pounded through Poo's veins. He jumped forward and lashed out, making sure to temper his emotion with logic. If he could force Kim to defend himself and then teleport away, Paula could…

"You know that it wasn't your fault," Ana said, bringing Poo back to the present. "At least you were there."

"It wasn't your fault either," Poo said.

"I know," Ana whispered. "I just…"

 _"These people are both dead. Two beautiful lives, snuffed out by war."_

"He really has to shove it down our throats, huh?" Ana said.

"No interruptions while the prophet is speaking!" one of the Ceresian soldiers shouted.

"Oh, you want to go?" Ana said, pulling a fist back.

Poo grabbed onto Ana's arm, gentle but firm.

"Ana," Poo said. "Please."

Ana sighed and lowered her arm.

 _"This isn't new. This has been the same story since the beginning of time. Conflict, struggle, pain, death."_

Poo looked out into the crowd and saw people nodding their heads and murmuring in agreement. Few could deny the atrocities of war after fighting through such a bitter conflict so recently.

 _"We defeated Giygas, but there's yet another entity who wants to continue this trend for us."_

Poo heard angry mutterings from the crowd and saw some of the soldiers stiffen. After Jeff had bound them with song and brought them together to defeat Gigyas, they would probably do anything that he told them to.

Poo couldn't feel comfortable with the level of complete control that Jeff exerted over these people, and he was a psyching _king._

 _"Her name is Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire."_

A picture of a woman who essentially looked like an older version of Kumatora flashed in Poo's mind.

"Jeff told me that you suggested to him that Kumatora herself might be Lorraine," Ana said.

"That was a long time ago," Poo said with a shrug. "And I was closer than I expected, honestly. Lorraine is Kumatora's mother."

 _"She is no better than Giygas. If she has her will, the entire human race will turn to dust."_

Several soldiers cried out in protest, grabbing a hold of their weapons. Poo and Ana exchanged a glance. Poo trusted Jeff, certainly, but if he were telling the truth then why hadn't Lorraine made an appearance until now?

"Do you think that she was the one controlling the crystal titan that you sucked all of the energy out of?" Ana said.

"If she fought against Giygas, why would she turn on us now?"

"You're the political leader, Poo. If you can't understand why allies turn on each other when it becomes convenient, you won't last long."

Well, she had a point there.

 _"There is something that you can do,"_ Jeff said. _"I'll show the picture of her again in a moment. Think about Lorraine dying. Think about her fading away. If we can all combine our thoughts, we'll stop her in her tracks. I'm sorry to put this on you, but we need to save the universe a second time."_

"Okay," Ana said. "Ninten said that he was due to develop schizophrenia, but I think that Jeff's the insane one here. We can all overcome her if we _think_ about it?"

"I mean, giving our power to Ninten worked," Poo said.

"But you can't kill someone just by _thinking_ about their death."

"Not here, you can't."

Ana frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I know exactly where Jeff is, and we should both think about Lorraine fading away like Jeff instructed. He'll need our help."

* * *

One by one, the replicas of Lorraine started to fade.

"What's happening?" Diana said. "Another trap?"

"Hmm…" a slight smile shone through on the original Lorraine's face. "Clever. _This_ is why I recruited you in the first place, Jeff. It almost makes me want to spare you."

"I don't understand," Diana said, her eyes narrowing.

"We exist in a space between the physical universe and the psionic realm, remember?" Jeff said. "Thoughts from the psionic realm can leak in and alter reality. It's why there are dinosaurs in the Lost Underworld." Jeff smiled. "So if everyone thinks about Lorraine fading away…"

"Then she might _actually_ disappear!" Diana said.

"I don't think that you realize how powerful I am," Lorraine said, her smile turning amused. "You inconvenienced me, but nothing more. I suppose I'll have to take you out in a more direct way."

The last of the replicas faded. Once again, Lorraine started to glow with a white light.

"Here it comes again," Diana said.

The light nearly blinded Jeff's vision as Lorraine shot a massive laser beam at Diana. Once again, Diana blocked the attack with the faint purple sphere surrounding both of them, but she let out a groan when the laser deflected off of the shield.

"So… powerful," Diana said. The white light danced off of her grey, starman eyes. "I can't hold her back for much longer."

 _Okay,_ Jeff thought. _It's do or die. I need to get the people of Ceres to think strongly enough about making Lorraine disappear. Let's see how far I can take them._

Jeff looked into the blinding light that Lorraine emitted. Squinting his eyes, he could make out a black silhouette the shape of Lorraine's body. That didn't make any sense from a physics perspective, but Jeff had grown used to Lorraine's view of the world defying the physical laws of the universe. Jeff looked closer at the silhouette and gasped.

He made out thin strings attached to her arms, legs, and head that stretched upwards further than Jeff could see. One he honed in his vision, he could definitely see them there: little black lines that held up her black body in a sea of white light.

"You called yourself the puppet master," Jeff said out loud to Lorraine, "But you wear strings just like the rest of us."

"…"

Even Lorraine's silence sounded _angry._

"You're backed into a corner too, aren't you? And this isn't a trap that you can escape from, even if you kill every last organism in this entire universe."

"…"

"I'm sorry."

"…"

"I don't have any choice now. I _can't_ lose." Jeff took a deep breath. "I need to keep a cool head."

"Prepare… to die," Lorraine said, her voice uncharacteristically weak.

* * *

 _"You're doing great,"_ Jeff said in Poo's mind.

"He's frantic," Poo said, turning towards Ana. "We're not doing enough."

"How can you tell?" Jenny said, cocking her head.

"Yeah, even I didn't pick up on anything strange in his voice."

"I guess it must have been my Mu training." Poo shook his head. "We need everyone to think harder."

 _"Remember, the fate of the universe in on the line. Take a moment to gather your thoughts and focus them all on Lorraine fading away from existence. Once you start thinking about that, your mind shouldn't be on anything else."_

A series of faces flashed in front of Poo's eyes. He saw Xiyen, Venus, Tracy, Tony… and hundreds of others that he didn't recognize.

"Use meditation," Poo told his Dalaamian soldiers. "Find your inner peace and then direct your thoughts to Lorraine."

"Are you thinking about Lorraine fading away as well?" Ana asked Jenny.

"Oh, yes." Jenny nodded her head several times. "Even while I was working for Giygas, Lorraine was our ultimate enemy."

 _Lorraine and not us, huh?_ Poo thought. _I guess it was a little egotistical to assume that Gigyas' war was really all about us._

 _"These are all people like you and me. These people died so that you would have a chance to live. Will you let their sacrifice be in vain?"_

"No!" the soldiers chanted in unison.

"That's a logical fallacy, by the way," Ana said, crossing her arms over her chest. "We should take the best solution for those of us who live, regardless of how many people died."

 _And I thought that Jeff was the logician here,_ Poo thought.

"Come on, Ana," Poo said. "Join in the spirit."

"The spirit of following everything that Jeff says without question?"

"We need everyone on board."

"Whatever happened to healthy individuality?"

"We'll get back to that one, but if we lose here…" Poo looked into Ana's eyes. "We lose _everything._ How's that for logic?"

Ana nodded.

"I guess I can't really afford to hold back the group, not now. But you can bet that I'm going to talk to Jeff about this later."

 _"Please, think of someone you loved. Someone you missed. There are hundreds of people out there just like them who have a chance to live. We're all wonderful people. We're all beautiful. We need to beat Lorraine and stay that way!"_

Poo exhaled and slipped into a state of meditation. People claimed that meditation purged stress, but Poo never interpreted it that way. To him, it always felt like he was pushing all of his hopes and worries out of the way so that he could see the emptiness inside.

It was like how people removed furnishings on tables so that they could clean underneath. The furnishings weren't bad; they gave the table life and color. But sometimes, Poo needed to focus his attention on the simple structures like tables. If he neglected his base, his core, then it would send his entire personality tumbling down.

So he cleared off the furnishings around his heart and looked inside. He breathed in the calm and breathed out the stress, keeping thoughts of worries or responsibilities at an arm's length. Poo focused his entire attention on the beat of his heart.

Then he shifted that focus to the image of Lorraine.

"You look really into this," Ana said, but her voice was little more than a nag in the back of his mind.

 _"Remember what you're fighting for. Blue skies and blue seas. Green forests and orange sunsets. The chirping of birds and the crashing of waves. Sweet chocolate and pastries. Warm smiles and warm drinks. Tight hugs and kisses. We're fighting for life; we're fighting for love."_

Poo nodded, letting Jeff's words echo in his mind. As Jeff described each sensation, Poo could _feel_ it. He could _see_ the blue, _hear_ the songs of nature, _taste_ the sweet. Poo suspected that Jeff wove in those stimuli with those words similar to how he could make everyone see a picture of Lorraine, but the sensations were so natural that Poo couldn't tell for sure.

 _"How much do those feelings mean to you?"_

"They mean everything to me," Jenny said out loud. "I don't have anything else left. This… is beautiful."

Many of the soldiers nodded, appearing to no longer care that a starman talked about feelings. The army was present, unified, and Starman Jenny was a part of the group. She was one of them now. The soldiers would fight and die with her if need be.

 _"Now think about how much they mean to everyone else."_

Poo blinked. If all of the images could provoke such a profound reaction in him, and he multiplied those emotions by the few billion people in the universe… nope, Poo couldn't wrap his head around it.

"This is why we need to win," Poo realized out loud. "If we lose, then we lose _everything._ "

"I believe you said those exact words to me earlier," Ana said.

"But we can't understand everything," Poo said. "We don't know what we're losing. That doesn't make it a fair deal."

"That's… one way to look at it, I suppose."

"People of Ceres and Dalaam!" Poo shouted. "Focus every ounce of brainpower, every ounce of energy on thinking about Lorraine. Visualize her fading away until your mind grows more tired than your muscles would after a battle. Fight and believe, for what you love and for what you will _learn_ to love."

"Fight for what I… will learn?" Jenny said. "Do you think it's possible that I could feel just like a human, even after the effect of PK Love wears off?"

 _You mean we're still under its influence?_ Poo thought. _I hadn't even noticed._

"Anything's possible," Ana said. "Let's survive today so that we can see what the future holds."

 _I hope that it paints a brighter picture for us all,_ Poo thought. _Even if we survive, I don't know how many more wars we can suffer through. With raw psionics on both sides of the conflict… well, we've already seen an entire city vaporized._

Poo picked up those thoughts and placed them away from his heart. He could consider them some other time; for now he needed to slip back into the meditation. Poo followed his own instructions and focused every once of brain power on the visualization of Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire fading away like the entire Scaraban city of Fiven.

 _I hope that this is enough, Jeff,_ Poo said, taking a quick look around at the furrowed eyebrows and determined stares. _Because everyone's giving it their absolute all._

* * *

One by one, the strings holding Lorraine up started to break. First, something cut the strings holding up her arms, and they fell to her side. Her legs went next, leaving only the string holding up her head. She slumped over like a doll, despite the fact that the string should have been holding her firm.

"Ungggh," Diana said, her arms and legs shaking. "Can't… hold…"

 _Come on,_ Jeff thought. _I think that we can do it…_

At the last moment, Lorraine's silhouette reared her head back and laughed.

"You think that you can beat me so easily?" she said, her voice becoming harder and harder to understand. "I will _crush_ you."

 _The strings…_ Jeff thought. _Were they just a ruse?_

No. Lorraine was vulnerable, but the people's thoughts weren't reaching to this realm in enough force.

"Any… more ideas?" Diana said, forcing a weak smile.

A pang ran through Jeff's stomach. He was entirely out of options, and couldn't think of anything to save them.

 _The Franklin Badge,_ Jeff thought. _It shows me what people in the outside universe are thinking. But Kumatora also mentions that it reflects energy attacks._

 _Reflection…_

A chill ran down Jeff's spine.

"You look… confident," Diana said, gasping for breath.

 _Confident? Not really. But this is my only shot._

Jeff zoomed his view on the screen to show all of Ceres, with little patches zooming in to show how the people were joining together to think about Lorraine's destruction.

He pulled the transparent Franklin Badge off of his glasses lens so it once again looked like a tiny screen. Jeff held it in his right hand, careful not to squeeze it.

 _It's so small,_ Jeff thought. _Could it really…?_

He shook his head. He was running out of time, and this was his best option.

"Diana," Jeff said. "On three, drop your PSI shield."

"But-"

"One."

Diana looked back at Jeff, her eyes uncertain.

"Two."

 _Please, Diana._

Jeff tossed the tiny mirror screen out in front of him.

"Three!"

Diana dropped the shield, and Lorraine's laser beam came bursting through.

It never reached Jeff or Diana.

The Franklin Badge that Jeff threw floated in front of him and Diana. The light of the laser beam thinned until it touched the screen, after which it bounced off and headed straight back towards Lorraine.

Because the laser beam moved at light speed, Jeff could only tell by the skinny v-shape that the laser beam made when it reflected off of the Franklin Badge. Lorraine fired the beam from her hands, but the light bounced off the screen and returned as a thin beam pointed straight at one of her eyes.

Lorraine let out a bone-chilling scream. She tried to wriggle her head out of the laser beam's gaze, but whenever she moved her head the screen adjusted ever so slightly to point the white laser from her hands right back at her eye.

"No…" Lorraine said. "I can see… everything!"

"What?" Diana said between gasps of breath.

"All of Ceres, standing together… against me!" Lorraine said. "But I created this universe. I am your _god!_ Worship me, measly humans!"

 _I guess the laser beam is showing her the view of Ceres that I displayed on the screen,_ Jeff thought.

"This can't be," Lorraine said. "You're just supposed to bend over and _die!"_

Jeff heard a sizzling noise, and specks of color started to float away from Lorraine's body.

"They're imagining that I'm fading away," Lorraine said with a desperate laugh. "And because enough of them are thinking it…"

"It actually happened, because of how thoughts can alter reality in this special realm," Diana said. "Jeff explained the plan to me earlier."

"Kumatora was stalling… for this," Lorraine said.

Finally, she stopped shooting the laser beam from her hands, and the screen that Jeff threw fell onto the black ground. Lorraine sucked in deep breaths.

"I…"

Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire fell to her knees.

"…No."

Lorraine stood up.

 _You have to be kidding me,_ Jeff thought. _We're still not done with her?_

In the distance, a white light started to shine. It spread from a single point, similar to how a tiny cave exit could illuminate an entire passageway.

And similar to someone seeing light at the end of the tunnel, Lorraine smiled.

"I… think that I'm done," Lorraine said.

Specks of color continued to fly away from her body. Lorraine limped towards the white light in the distance.

"Lorraine!" Jeff said.

"Hmm?" Lorraine turned back around.

"Why?"

"You mean you _want_ me to keep fighting you while I go down?" Lorraine said.

"No, of course not, but…"

"I know." Lorraine sighed. "It probably doesn't make any sense to you, and it probably never will." Lorraine took another step towards the light and fell onto her hands and knees. "Why would I try to wipe out the entire universe and then just give up? Even I can't understand it."

Lorraine's arms quivered. With a groan, she forced herself back onto her feet.

"Just… have to put one foot in front of the other," Lorraine said, taking another step forward.

The white light in the distance started to grow brighter and come closer. Lorraine coughed up blood, bending over and nearly falling over again.

"I saw so much," Lorraine said. "So much love that I wasn't a part of. Those are my initials, you know. LOVE. I wanted everyone to adore me. When I couldn't get that…"

"You tried to kill everyone who didn't," Diana said. "It's a classic cult mentality."

"It wasn't your fault," Jeff said. "I saw the strings hanging on your silhouette. Your curse pushed you to kill, not you."

"My curse…" Lorraine laughed, tears streaming down her face as she took another step forward. "It's just another excuse. I turned my people into Tendas, Jeff. I turned my husband into a rock. I can blame a curse, but in the end it was _me_ who caused the pain."

Lorraine stumbled and fell flat on her face. After several seconds, she stood back up. Jeff could now see little black dots where flesh was missing from her body as specks of color continued to fly into the surrounding area.

"I killed my daughter," Lorraine said. "No matter what force pushed me to do it, my hand was the one that ended her life."

"There is more to a murder than who holds the knife," Jeff said. "You're a victim, just like the rest of us."

"You don't even know what you're talking about, and you still…" Lorraine coughed. "You should hate me. I killed your friend. I let more of your friends die. I could have influenced anything from my position in the Shard, you know. The universe's strings were mine to pull."

"And you did try," Diana said. "Dr. Andonuts even caught on."

"Too smart for his own good," Lorraine said. "Had to… die."

"You killed him?" Jeff said, blood pounding in his ears.

"He killed himself," Lorraine said. "But I pulled strings. Pushed him to do the act. Didn't you say that there's more to a murder than who holds the knife? Let me die in peace, Jeff. I don't need your pity."

Lorraine took tiny steps towards the white light as it came closer. The black holes of missing flesh on her body widened.

"Lorraine…" Jeff said.

"I guess I just always wanted to die. We Ancients don't really fade away from natural causes like you humans do. The idea of death fascinated me, _pushed_ me to kill the other ancients. Only Senaka could stand up to me."

"Senaka?"

"Giygas. She was your savior, not your enemy. She only turned against you because her mind got corrupted from the Ancients' curse."

"Same as yours."

"I stayed in this world of PSI and cognition to slow the breakdown. I should have… done more." Lorraine shook her head. "But I…"

Lorraine's voice grew distant. The black holes of missing flesh were now so large that Jeff could barely make out Lorraine's features. The white light continued to inch closer.

"I can see where she's coming from," Diana said. "My father brainwashed me and drilled into my head that I needed to kill these people for him, but their faces still haunt me every night."

"Exactly." Lorraine stumbled forward. "But now… I won't even have to exist. No more nightmares. No more loneliness. I'll finally be free."

Lorraine's voice came out hoarse. She cleared her throat, but it didn't sound like it helped at all. The white light expanded up to right in front of Lorraine.

"I'm going to go now," Lorraine said. "I'm going to visit the brightest star I can find and stare at it until it burns out. And I'll think of Kumatora. I stole her from Senaka, but she was still my daughter."

A pause. The holes of missing flesh ate up entire parts of her body, leaving behind disconnected pieces of skin and organs.

"G…o…o…d…b…y…e…"

Lorraine Olvna Var Entaire stepped into the white light, and the rest of her body dissolved into colored specks that dispersed and vanished moments later.

After the light consumed Lorraine's body, it dimmed and eventually faded.


	55. Chapter 49: The End?

_There will always be pain. There will always be suffering. There will always be conflict. I don't think that we can ever break the cycle and create a true utopia._

 _But can we come closer?_

 _Maybe if there were something that changed the system entirely. We need a better way of passing on wisdom to future generations. We need to teach everyone what the pain of war truly means. If they understand what's at stake, they'll cooperate with each other instead of taking heads off._

 _But is it really possible to capture the emotion of war? All of the desperation, the dull anger, and the empty feelings in the heart? Is there really a way to make people understand something to terrible?_

* * *

The white light moved closer to Jeff and Diana.

"Is it coming to take us, too?" Diana said. "At this point, I honestly wouldn't mind."

Diana barked out a hoarse laugh. She took a step forward, her legs wobbling.

"Here," Jeff said, putting an arm around Diana's waist. "You can lean on me."

Diana offered a thankful smile and shifted some of her body weight over to him. While her silvery skin looked metallic, it was soft and warm to the touch.

"When you look at me, what do you see?" Diana said. "A half-human, half-starman that shouldn't really exist on a biological level. What do you think?"

"I see a person who helped save the universe," Jeff said.

Diana smiled. "Thank you."

The white light grew closer and closer.

"I don't think that it will hurt us," Jeff said. "It's probably the people's thoughts coming together and helping us."

"That _would_ explain why Lorraine vanished right when she stepped inside." Diana put a hand on her chin. "Do you think that we can ever go back to the way things were?"

"Maybe, but I wouldn't want to. I used to be just another kid without any real parents, and you lived in a cult. We look to the future because we don't have a past, Diana."

"…True enough." She smiled, although her eyes looked sad.

"Is something bothering you?"

"I'll tell you about it later."

The white light came right up to Jeff's and Diana's feet. They exchanged a glance and nodded.

In unison, Diana and Jeff stepped into the white light.

Jeff heard the faint noise of waves crashing on the shore and caught a faint whiff of cinnamon. The entire world turned white around him.

(ILH)

Jeff and Diana appeared in a room made out of crystals that were different shades of red and pink. Tables and chairs lined the room, along with crystals in the walls that aligned to form pictures of objects such as the sun and flowers. Even these images were depicted with only red and pink.

In the middle of the circular room stood a massive, red globe with engravings that Jeff couldn't read. Diana walked up to the sphere and moved her fingers over the engraved symbols.

"I don't know any of what this means," Diana said. "I assume that since Kumatora's not with us, she…"

A pang ran through Jeff's stomach. He had almost forgotten about how he had let her die. She offered herself as a distraction, a time waster, and they both knew that it was necessary. But if Jeff had been a little smarter, thought a little quicker… maybe she would still be by his side right now.

He heard the sound of her laughter in his head. It was almost too much to bear.

"I'm sorry," Diana said. "I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject."

"No," Jeff said. "It's fine. I just…" he pictured Kumatora's smile and winced. "We've lost so many people. Tony, Paula, Ness, and now Kumatora too? It just doesn't seem fair."

"It really doesn't." Diana flashed a wry smile. "I guess we'll just have to go forward from where we're at."

 _But what exactly does that entail?_ Jeff thought. _We won. What now?_

"Hmm." Diana turned back to the engravings on the red sphere. "If this is a language, it's not similar to one I've ever seen before. Letters flow together and loop around each other." Diana frowned. "It doesn't even look like there's a linear way to _read_ it."

"Normally, I'd be right up there trying to discover the unknown with you," Jeff said, "But right now, I'm too exhausted to care."

"Can't blame you." Diana darted around to another part of the sphere. "I think that the white light that we stepped into reinvigorated me. I was about to collapse on you. Literally."

Jeff shrugged. Diana looked agile as ever, so he didn't doubt her assessment.

"But where did the light take us?" Jeff said.

"Look out the window." Diana pointed at the area outside the crystal tower while still looking at the globe. "It looks like the same view from the top of the tower you were standing on earlier."

Jeff walked up to the crystalline walls and put his hands on the cool crystals, feeling each bump in the uneven structure. He looked out towards the horizon, spotting the river that snaked back and forth until it reached an area filled with white under the tower.

"So we're inside the building that Lorraine took me on top of," Jeff said. "Why would we end up here?"

"Maybe it was random." Diana shrugged, hopping on the globe and looking at it from the top. "Or maybe we're supposed to find something here."

"Or it could be neither."

"The possibilities are endless." Diana looked at Jeff and smiled.

"Diana. Shouldn't we… you know, leave? We beat Giygas. We beat Lorraine. We don't need to stay here."

Diana sighed, hopping off of the globe and landing on the floor without a sound. When she looked into Jeff's eyes, he could see the regret in her expression.

"Can we really abandon this place?" Diana said. "Remember how Lorraine got corrupted by some curse or whatever."

"Entropy," Jeff said. "Energy tends to spread out. After holding so much power, she had to release it." He shrugged. "I still don't see why that translated into killing and destruction. People use their power to build all of the time."

"Maybe she just didn't know how. But I agree; true chaos doesn't always involve destruction. My father's cult was orderly, but that didn't make it good. We could have done well with fewer rules and less control."

"Chaos as we use the word can lead to freedom instead of desolation," Jeff said. "But who knows what the Ancients mean when they translate their speech into our language? Eagleish isn't always precise."

"We've come so far," Diana said, looking around at the room, "Yet we have more questions than when we started."

"That's science for you." Jeff smiled. "Knowledge only opens more doors to unexplored frontiers."

"And somebody needs to explore this one."

"And why must someone do that?" Jeff said.

"Let's say Gigyas and Lorraine didn't get involved with this at all. Humans alone produced savants like Lucas and Mary that wiped cities away with a snap of their fingers. Humans alone turned against each other in Dalaam and Ceres. Shouldn't there be some way to stop it?"

"And you think this realm can help us?"

"I should be able to see everything outside of this world, just like Lorraine could. And there's no reason I couldn't learn to manipulate those screens to send people messages. Wouldn't it be useful to have me here, directing people when they need guidance?"

"That would place a lot of responsibility on you."

"It would give me a chance to redeem myself," Diana said. "Something to make up for everyone I've killed."

"Are you sure that you can handle it?"

"I… think so." Diana bit her lip. "I mean, I might make mistakes, but I picked up a thing or two about how we break from working with my father. I won't let people rely on me, and I won't give them all of the answers they seek right away." She snorted. "Divine Rulers know that I wouldn't have time for that anyway."

Jeff fished for excuses, arguments against her staying.

He only found one that he could use.

"I need you," Jeff said. "We went through so much together. You were my literal and figurative mentor, even if I didn't realize it at the time. I need Mr. Agerate. I need Diana Carpainter." Jeff bit the inside of his mouth until it bled. "You're the only one left."

"I…" Diana lowered her gaze. "I'll always be with you."

"What do you mean?"

Diana walked up and pressed two fingers against Jeff's chest.

"I'll always be able to talk with you," she said. "I can communicate with anyone outside of this realm, remember? Even though I'll be a world away, we'll never be far."

 _Never be far…_ Jeff wanted to believe those words.

"I know that it's hard," Diana said, putting a hand on Jeff's shoulder. "But I think that you'll get through it without any scars. Maybe you can make new friends or grow closer to the friends you have." Diana smiled. "You're not alone anymore. Ana lost her parents too."

"And what about you?" Jeff said.

"I… never had any friends to begin with." Diana shrugged. "Who would want to befriend one of the most notorious criminals in recent history?"

Despite her starman features, Jeff could make out the expression on her face perfectly. The way that her gaze wandered, the way that she fidgeted with her hands, the way that she seemed to shrink back and hide despite her lanky build… She didn't look like a cultist. She didn't look like a mass murderer. She didn't look like a warrior.

She looked like a frightened child.

"You're terrified," Jeff said.

"I guess there's no point in hiding it, huh?" Diana chuckled. "I can face down psionic savants like Lucas and Mary who will murder me in a moment if I give them the chance. I can face down beings older that the universe like Lorraine. But when it comes to facing my own loneliness…" Diana shook her head. "I falter. I crumble. It's pathetic."

"So are you sure that you don't want to come with me?" Jeff said. "Or maybe I could stay here with you! I know that I'm not much, but…"

"You're needed elsewhere." Diana smiled, putting a hand on Jeff's cheek. "You unified the people of Ceres. You probably hold more power over them than you realize. I have the chance to unlock the secrets of the Ancients." Diana pressed a finger up to Jeff's chest. "You have the power to forge a better society."

"Then you should come with me," Jeff said. "I've always relied on you, even when I didn't know it. If you leave me now, when I have this responsibility…"

"Remember, I'm not leaving anyone." Diana looked up at the ceiling. "On the roof, I can access the screens that you and Lorraine used. We can talk, and I can give you advice." A secretive smile crossed her lips. "But honestly, I think that you'll make better decisions than I do."

 _How can you say that?_ Jeff wanted to shout. _I've always looked up to you. When I complained, you listened and helped. When the universe needed you to delay Mary for us to evacuate civilians in Scaraba, you were there. You feel the pain of the world yet manage to keep trudging forward. Can't you see how special that makes you?_

"But…"

"I'm sorry," Diana said, shaking her head. "But I've made my decision. I guess I can't stop you if you want to stay, but I get the feeling that you don't."

 _No!_ Jeff thought. _There has to be some way… please, I've already lost so many people. I can't bear to leave Diana behind too!_

The image of Lorraine's face, her expression calm but with a hint of desperation shining through, appeared in his mind. He tried to push the picture out of his head, but it refused to leave his mind.

 _What?_ Jeff thought. _We beat Lorraine. Why am I thinking about her now?_

"Diana," Jeff said. "Do you think that Lorraine loved Kumatora?"

"It seemed like it," Diana said with a shrug. "I can't claim to understand how Ancients work, but she seemed like she wanted to protect Kumatora."

"And yet Lorraine murdered Kumatora," Jeff said, "And Kumatora knew that it would happen. I didn't realize it at the time, but looking back… I can see the acceptance in her eyes, the resigned posture hidden under her fiery exterior. She knew that her own mother was going to kill her. How? Why?"

"I don't know," Diana said. "Kumatora probably knows her mother better than we do."

"Lorraine cared about Kumatora as much as she claimed, then why?"

"Maybe…" Diana placed a hand on her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, Lorraine didn't seem the most… open-minded of people."

"Meaning?"

"Maybe she loved Kumatora in one way, but wasn't ready to accept her in another."

"That's true. Maybe she only loved the little girl that Kumatora _was,_ not the strong woman that she became. She wanted Kumatora to be different. She wanted for them to go back to a simpler time. And when she realized that Kumatora would never follow her in the same way again…" Jeff gasped.

"Yeah," Diana said, looking down. "Lorraine killed her."

"No, not that," Jeff said. He looked up at Diana. "I'm doing the same thing to you!"

"What?" Diana's eyes narrowed. "You never tried…"

"I want you to stay with me," Jeff said, "Because that's what _I_ want. It's all about me." Jeff took a deep breath. "I didn't want to accept you as the person you've become. I wanted you to cling onto me and watch over me."

"It's really not that extreme."

"But the underlying motive is still there! It's not about what's best for you, it's about keeping you around so that _I_ can stay happy! I'm no different from Lorraine."

"Jeff…"

"You said that you feel weak, right? That this task gives you meaning?"

"Right," Diana said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Every night, I'm chained to the wall and I see people screaming, bleeding, _dying._ No matter how many people I saved, I could never make the nightmares go away. It never felt like I was _doing_ anything. I thought that maybe if I could look into Lorraine's past while speaking to the outside world through the screens…" Diana cupped her hands over her chest. "Maybe I could finally make the nightmares go away."

"I see."

"I'm done with killing," Diana said. "I killed when my father told me to, and I later killed when I felt that it was necessary. But I can't take much more. I know that it sounds weak, but…"

"The strongest person is the one who doesn't need to fight," Jeff said. "People usually kill because they're afraid. They want to protect themselves, their family, or even their ideas from being challenged. Kim Jang-Li could look into a thicket of spears and smile. I'm glad that you want to be the same way."

"I… thanks. That actually means a lot to me." Diana took a deep breath. "I don't want to follow a strict pacifism vow like Ness, but I really don't think that we need to fight as much as we do."

"I agree," Jeff said. "Good luck on finding out more on the Ancients, and I hope that you can continue to help the universe. I'll look forward to hearing from you about how things go."

"Wait. So you're just…"

"Yeah. I won't try to make you go with me. I guess when we're ready, you can teleport me back to the entrance and I'll walk out back into the Shard?"

"But after everything you said, why…?"

"I care about you, Diana." Jeff smiled. "And that doesn't mean that I only care about how you make _me_ feel and what you can do for _me._ I care about _you._ And if you truly love someone, then you have to learn to let them go. I won't be another Lorraine."

"Jeff…" Diana's eyes started to tear up. "Thank you. I can't explain how much that means to me. I killed because it was necessary, I loved because it was necessary, but now I can do something more, something that I _want._ Thank you for understanding."

Jeff walked up and embraced Diana in a hug. He tried to hold back his tears, but he shouldn't have even bothered. Nothing could stop the rivers flowing from his eyes.

"I love you, and I support your decision," Jeff said. "But I'll miss you. Diana, Mr. Agerate… I hope that we can meet again for real."

"I know. I can send you words and pictures, but there's something to be said for standing next to each other in person. Maybe you could visit me, depending on how easy it is and what this place becomes."

"I wouldn't miss it for the universe."

Diana released Jeff from her embrace and held his arms, wearing a bittersweet smile.

"You'll do well," Diana said. "There's no doubt in my mind. Your journey is just beginning, and I know that you'll accomplish more amazing feats in your life. You can already say that you've slain an Ancient, after all."

"And while the universe may not remember Diana Carpainter as the hero that you are," Jeff said, "We all will think fondly of _you,_ the force behind the curtain that keeps the universe intact."

Diana blushed.

"That might be a bit of a stretch," she said.

"I'm sure that you'll get it worked out. Maybe we can finally break the cycle of pain."

Jeff turned around and looked out of the crystal walls at the green landscape below.

"Do you ever think that the empirists were right?" Diana said. "Ever since the empire fell, we've been falling further and further into disarray. Psion turning on psion. An arms race against the starmen that wiped them out but could have easily ended with us dead on the fields of Ceres. It's a miracle that we're still here."

"There will always be sacrifices," Jeff said, looking at the thin river below. "But I think that in the end, people live happier lives than they did under the empire. Emperors prevented any massive conflicts, but they also never gave non-psions any opportunities to become anything more than a farmer or merchant. Many people still live in poverty, but we're on the upswing."

"You really think so?" Diana said. "Even after seeing how we desolated Vulcan and turned it into a wasteland? Even after seeing how Mary vaporized an entire city?"

"We live in a dangerous time, but we enjoy privileges that our ancestors probably couldn't dream of. We have better medical care, education, quality of goods… and besides, we still have time to fix the problems with this universe."

"I suppose so."

Jeff turned back to Diana.

"We can talk as much as we want later," he said. "I can't bear to drag this goodbye out any longer."

Jeff looked into Diana's eyes, taking a mental picture of how she looked. Her caring smile, her relaxed posture, and the fiery passion that lay underneath her silver skin… Jeff tried to pack all of it into one, coherent image.

"I'll touch base with you soon," Diana said. "It will be hard, but…"

"But it's for the best. We can both help the universe in our own way."

Diana gulped and nodded. He could see tears glistening in her eyes.

"Goodbye, Jeff."

"Goodbye."

"Teleport."

As the world faded around Jeff, he waved goodbye.

* * *

After exiting Lorraine's realm and wandering the Shard for hours, Jeff found an exit. He looked through the crystal door in front of him, seeing cobblestones and buildings outside. He frowned, wondering what happened to the Shard's position out in the plains of Ceres.

Jeff looked back at the long, snaking hallway that he came from. Diana was still back there, somewhere. The only person who had ever cared deeply about him… a pang shot through Jeff's gut. He said that he respected Diana's decision, and he _did,_ but that didn't make it easy.

Adults always told Jeff that good behavior would be rewarded while bad behavior would be punished. Jeff _knew_ that he was doing the right thing by letting Diana embark on her own journey, but he didn't see how it would ever benefit him. Selfishly, he started to wish that he had insisted on her coming back with him.

He turned back to the door and took a step. Why did everything feels so _heavy?_ He took another step, surprised that he couldn't hear his feet stomping on the crystal floor.

 _I don't have anyone,_ Jeff thought. _Diana can talk to me through my mind, but it's not the same._

Jeff walked up to the door and swung it open. Sunlight filtered in from outside. Sounds of bustling and laughter from the street outside flooded his ears. A warm breeze passed over him, caressing his cheek.

Jeff couldn't care less.

He stepped outside and looked up at the Shard. Instead of seeing the massive, upside down cone shape that the Shard took, he found himself looking at a massive statue made of crystal. It stood several stories high and held a sword pointed to the sky. Jeff realized that he had come out of the statue's foot.

 _Ah, right,_ he thought. _Lorraine turned part of the Shard into the crystal titan that she used to fight against Giygas. At least, until Poo sucked all of the energy out of it._

Jeff looked around, spotting the looming capitol building nearby. The crystal warrior had gotten close to the center of the city while it battled against Giygas' titan. He looked around at the people walking the streets. Some wheeled corpses around, but most wore smiles on their faces and talked in jovial tones. They stopped and chatted on the streets.

It was almost _too_ friendly for Jeff. He didn't really want strangers stopping him on the street and asking how he was doing. Why should they care?

 _And why the change?_ Jeff thought. _Ceresians are the most aloof people in the universe._

"Jeff!" someone shouted.

He turned towards the direction of the voice and saw Ana waving at him. She stood next to a Ghost of Starman, yet she didn't appear to make any move against it. She ran over and embraced Jeff in a hug before he could prepare himself.

"You were _amazing!"_ Ana said. "You just save the entire psyching universe. Twice! And people used to think less of you because you couldn't use psionics."

"Well, I think that Ninten gets credit for beating Giygas," Jeff said. "And I think that the people of Ceres get credit for beating Lorraine."

"Pshaw," Ana said, waving a dismissive hand. "You did _great,_ Jeff. Poo figured out that you went into the Shard, so he had me wait here in case you popped out. Good call by him, huh?"

"Yeah. He always seems to know what's going on."

"I guess that's what kings tend to do." Ana released Jeff from her embrace. "But what about Diana and Kumatora? Did you see them?"

"…"

"Jeff?" Ana's voice dropped to a whisper. "Do you mean…"

"Diana's alive," Jeff said, his voice harsher than he intended. "But you won't be seeing her anytime soon."

"And… Kumatora?"

Jeff let the silence speak for itself.

"Oh," Ana said after several seconds. "I'm… sorry."

"You know that it's not your fault."

"I'm sorry anyway." Ana sighed. "Why do we have to lose so many good people? My parents, Ness, Tracy, Venus, Tony, Paula, and now Kumatora. I'm sure that I'm forgetting others."

"I guess this is what winning feels like," Jeff said with a shrug. "Empty."

"Oh, come on!" Ana said, putting her hands on her hips. "There are _some_ good parts."

"Such as?"

"You helped a lot of people, Jeff. Don't you feel good about that?"

"Did I really help them, Ana? I used them. I _manipulated_ them."

"Jeff?" came a distant voice.

Jeff turned his head to see the Ghost of Starman that Ana was with earlier teleporting in front of him. Starmen didn't have true facial expressions like humans did, but something about this starman seemed… jubilant, happy.

"Greetings," the starman said. "My name is Jenny." A pause. "That _is_ what you humans do, right? You tell each other your name?"

"Yes…" Jeff shot a glance at Ana, wondering what the psych was going on.

Ana shrugged. Big help there.

"I just wanted to thank you," Jenny said. "Ana told me that you are the prophet. That is correct, yes?"

"Prophet?"

"Your eyes!" Ana said, laughing out loud. "You look like you just saw a ghost, Jeff!"

"Ana," Jeff said. "What does this starman mean?"

"Ah, people think that your God's prophet now," Ana said with a shrug. "Since you brought them together and told them to pray and everything. Claus and Lucas using PK Love to make everyone feel massive amounts of raw emotion probably added to that perception."

"I'm not a prophet!"

"Don't say that so loud," Ana said. "We need to talk to you about it. Leverage your new position."

"I'm not-"

"Later," Ana said, putting a hand over Jeff's mouth. "Jenny. Would you like to continue?"

The starman nodded several times. Jeff wondered where she picked up on that human mannerism.

"I just wanted to thank you," Jenny said. "You made me _feel_ something for the first time. I can see the beauty in flowers and hear the beauty in bird songs. I can look at a smile and feel warm inside. That is how you humans see the world, yes? You judge by logic, but you also make decisions based on how you feel. I think that's wonderful."

"Jenny prayed for Ninten," Ana said, "And she joined us when you told everyone to group together and think about Lorraine. All of the other starmen killed themselves when PK Love made them malfunction—meaning that they experienced emotions—but Jenny here embraced the feelings that we humans take for granted."

"It feels like something awoke in me," Jenny said. "I'm trying to fit into human culture. Most people give me distrustful stares and back away when they see me, which is unfortunate, but some people stop by and chat. You humans have so many different views on the world that I don't know how you keep track of them all."

"Well, we do a very good job of ignoring what we don't want to hear," Ana said.

"Wait," Jeff said. "You're a _starman,_ and you're trying to assimilate into human culture and make friends just because PK Love made you feel for the first time?"

Jenny cocked her head.

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, not at all! It just means that I need to step up my game."

"Step up your…" Jenny trailed off. "I don't understand."

"He means that if you can make friends even though you're a starmen and most humans hate you, he doesn't have any excuses for moping around."

"Did you have to make me sound so pathetic in your description, Ana?" Jeff said. "I'm not moping; I'm just evaluating my life and considering where to go."

"Of course," Ana said, her eyes shining with mischief. "I would _never_ want to make negative assumptions about you."

 _What's gotten into her?_ Jeff said. _She seems more… natural than usual._

"Ah," Jenny said. "Do you really see me in that regard, Jeff? As a… comparison to your own life?"

"I do," Jeff said. "And I think that it's important to remember that there are always people in worse positions than we are. It doesn't invalidate my worries, but if you can try so hard to fit in even with not being from the same species as us… well, I can try to at least forge a _few_ close bonds."

Jeff smiled and patted Jenny on the back.

"It's nice to meet you, Jenny," he said. "It's important to remember that not even all starmen are the same. Real agents of chaos like Kumatora fight for what we believe, but we don't try to restrain others or make assumptions about people we don't know. No strict hierarchy like Giygas' can create a lasting society." Jeff looked up at the purple dome in the sky. "And love may not always triumph over hate, but I think that we're off to a pretty good start."

Ana clapped Jeff on the shoulder.

"That's the spirit," she said. "Why don't I take you out to ice cream for old times' sake? We can talk as friends instead of soldiers and prophets."

A smile crept onto Jeff's face. He had forgotten about that tradition of theirs until she mentioned it.

"I would like nothing better. Thanks, Ana."

A matching smile popped up on Ana's face. It wasn't the sweet, calculated smile that he was used to. The bold shine of her teeth and the depth of her blue eyes captured all of Jeff's attention. So _this_ is what she had been hiding behind her calm exterior.

For the first time that he had seen her, Ana was free.

A weight lifted from Jeff's chest, and he knew _exactly_ how she felt.

* * *

Ninten awoke in a field of soft, green grass.

Ninten felt the blades of grass slip through his fingers. He sat up, looking around. Where the psych was he? He could see the Shard of Ceres in the distance, but the plains surrounding the Shard contained yellow, rough grass, not this lush green stuff.

Ninten stretched, letting out a groan. Maybe he should focus less on the why and more on the feelings. He ran his fingers through the grass a second time, closing his eyes and imagining himself stroking a blanket. He dusted himself off and stood up, looking around for anyone in sight.

When he passed out and his spirit went to Giygas' Magicant, he could see thousands of people lining up in front of the Shard. Where had they all gone? A gust of wind sent the grass swaying, but the rippling of air currents was the only sound Ninten could hear.

 _Oh no,_ Ninten thought, a feeling of dread sickening him to the stomach. _What if we lost and I'm the only one left? Senaka said…_

Ninten noticed a break in the tall grass next to him. He walked over and saw Claus and Lucas laying down, side by side, holding each other's hand. Ninten breathed a sigh of relief. If they survived, then he could likely assume that not all of humanity had been destroyed.

He took another look at the twins. After a moment, he gasped.

"Lucas," he said out loud. "The sword's not impaled through your chest anymore. I hope that you still…"

Lucas' eyes fluttered open. He looked at Ninten and smiled.

"Oh," Lucas said, his voice soft and smooth. "You're alive. Does that mean that we beat Giygas?"

"I guess it does."

Lucas' smile grew. His eyes flashed with an innocent joy that reminded Ninten of Ness.

"Thank you." Lucas looked down at his chest. "…Oh. I guess I didn't need to keep that sword stuck inside of me after all." He shrugged. "I'm just glad that everything turned out all right."

 _Wow,_ Ninten thought. _Is this really the same person who killed Ness and thousands of others without a second thought?_

"You look a lot like him, you know," Lucas said, cocking his head as he examined Ninten.

Ninten didn't have to ask who Lucas was referring to.

"I always get that, but we couldn't be more different. Ness was ready to cry for the universe, while I just sat by and cursed it."

"You saved the universe," Lucas said. "That's worth something."

Ninten heard a groan from Claus' position on the ground. He saw arms stretch out past Claus' head, tilted slightly upwards. Ninten and Lucas walked toward Claus until they could see him lying in the tall grass.

Claus opened both eyes and sat up.

"Claus!" Lucas said.

"Hey to you too," Claus said. "I wasn't expecting to survive that either. How are you two doing?"

"Your… eye!" Lucas said, pointing at the obvious.

"Remember? Mom stabbed it out a long time ago."

"It's back, dummy," Lucas said. "You have both eyes again!"

"I… what?" Claus frowned, closing each eye separately. A slow grin spread on his face. "Divine Rulers. I've never heard of anything like this. I can finally see clearly again."

"The same thing happened with the sword in my chest," Lucas said. "We're back to normal!"

A pang ran through Ninten's gut. Back to normal… but he would still develop schizophrenia one day. What would they think of him when he started raving and talking to things that weren't there?

"Heh," Claus said. "You even sound like you can stand my presence."

Lucas frowned.

"It will take longer than a few days to erase all of my bad experiences with you," he said, "But I don't want to push you away any longer. I just need my space."

"I totally understand." Claus said. "I'll give you as much room as you need."

 _They sound… like normal siblings,_ Ninten thought. _Actually, they sound a lot more understanding than most siblings would be._

"So what did I miss?" Claus said.

"I'm not entirely sure," Ninten said, scanning the plains. "But I think that we won. You two used PK Love, right?"

Lucas and Claus nodded.

"I'm pretty sure that you helped me beat Giygas by doing that."

"Wow, even _you've_ mellowed out," Claus said. "A compliment just to be polite! I never thought that I'd see the day."

"I'm being serious!" Ninten said. "You seriously-"

"We get it," Claus interrupted. "This is your way of trying to be nice. We appreciated."

"Claus!" Lucas swatted at Claus' head, intentionally missing. "Stop being an ass and hear him out, will you? This is why I started hating you in the first place."

Claus flashed a guilty smile. Even though Ninten shook his head, he couldn't help but smile along.

"Ninten!" came a distant voice.

Ninten's ears perked up. He knew that voice.

"Ana?"

He looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Ana waving at him while Poo stood next to her with a smile on his face.

"Ana!" He turned back to Claus and Lucas. "Come on; let's go!"

Ninten didn't wait for their response. He started running towards Ana and Poo. Memories flashed by in his mind, recollections of sprinting through the wheat fields of Podunk to meet up with Ana after a day of homeschooling with his father. He remembered his feet clacking on the wooden steps of Ana's porch and bending down to catch his breath right when he arrived so that he could announce his presence.

He heard Lucas and Claus running behind him, but he hardly paid them a second thought. He dashed his way through tall grass, feeling it brush by his legs. After what felt like an eternity, he arrived to meet Ana and Poo, who also ran forward to meet him. They nearly crashed into each other.

"Well?" Ninten said. "Did we win? Did we do it?"

"We won," Poo said. "Giygas won't bother us ever again, and neither will Lorraine." Noting Ninten's confusion, he smiled. "She's one of Giygas' kind and was just as powerful, with all of the malicious intent. You can thank Jeff for taking care of her."

"I can also thank Jeff for helping me beat Giygas," Ninten said. "I couldn't have done it without him. Or you."

Ninten looked up as the Ceresian sun shone in the sky. He usually thought that it looked secluded and faded from behind the purple barrier, but today it blazed like a jewel in the sky. Ninten closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling his stress melt away.

"I can't say how glad I am to find you here alive," Poo said. "Even though I pushed you away when we first met on Ceres, I always considered you a friend. You're more like Ness than you realize. You both put your entire heart into everything that you do."

"Well, there's no higher praise than being similar to Ness."

"Maybe there is," Ana said. "You're like the Ninten that I knew. Upbeat, charismatic, determined… but with none of the ignorance and innocence."

"Hey, I'm still pretty ignorant."

"That's the wisest thing anyone can say."

Ana smiled and took a step forward, opening her arms.

Ninten didn't even hesitate. He leapt forward into her arms. Ana laughed, picking him up and spinning him around.

"Whoa, easy there!" Ninten said. "You don't know your own strength, Ana!"

"Sorry." Ana set him down. "I just…" her eyes glistened with tears. "I'm so glad that you're back."

"I'm back," Ninten said. "I'm really back now. Everything's right again. This feeling might not last, but for now…"

"For now," Ana said, wrapping her arms around him. "You're home."

 **End of Part 7**


	56. Epilogue: Prophet of Ceres

**Note:** I think that I'm done with collecting fragmented memories, at least for now. I can still hear certain thoughts leak into my realm, and I'm having Jeff record them so that they don't get corrupted, but I don't plan to compile them anytime soon.

Still, it's nice to get a glimpse into other people's lives. It didn't save Lorraine, but it might save me. If I ever turn into what she or Giygas became… the thought sends shivers down my spine.

But in this realm, I can defy the physical rules of the universe with thoughts. I've already managed to slow my aging down so that I can pass the wisdom learned from these terrible conflicts onto the next generation. Many societies experience a grace period after a peaceful resolution where nobody wishes to fight more pointless wars, but that sentiment dies along with the people who learned from the conflict.

I've begun a task even more ambitious than gathering my memories and fragmented memories: I want to record a story of exactly what happened, starting from September when Ness and his friends first went to school. I doubt that any of them expected to end up where they are now, only five months later.

Perhaps I shall weave the memories and fragmented memoires within the narrative, providing context when it becomes necessary. Or perhaps not. We shall see.

I continue to ramble on. I suppose that I've never been known as a concise writer. To anyone reading these words… thank you for listening what I have to say. It means the universe to me.

Cheers,

Diana Carpainter

* * *

"This is where you went to school?" Darius said, looking around at the swirling colors on the walls. "Looks rather… Ceresian."

"By which you mean excessive." Poo smiled. "I thought the same when I first arrived. I suppose that I still do." Poo sat down on a beige couch in the middle of the room. "We psions got the nicer rooms at school here."

"So are you still a student?"

"No. I just kind of waltzed in here." Poo smiled. "But this is a private room, so you can tell me whatever you want."

Poo's eyes asked the real question: _Why did you call me here in the first place?_

"Did you ever know my father?" Darius said.

"Well, yeah. He killed my father and was at least partially responsible for the death of the Ceresian President. He killed my half-brother and one of my friends." Poo shrugged. "Nasty man all around."

"Did you know him before he started the uprising in Dalaam?" Darius said. "Was he always that evil?"

"No, he wasn't."

Darius sucked in a breath of air. It was the answer he expected, but it wasn't the answer he hoped for.

"Your father was always conflicted," Poo said. "Korea's still in a bad state. Poverty rate's through the roof. I'm sure that he was always bitter, but he managed to bite down his anger and do his job."

"Until…"

"One day, he cracked." Poo frowned. "It wasn't terribly surprising, looking back, but it did come at a random moment. I guess after a point, he just couldn't take any more."

"So we're the same."

"Giygas-"

"Don't pin this on him!" Darius said. After a moment, he looked away. "I mean…"

"I can see why you would feel that way," Poo said. "Logic can't eliminate the face that it was _you_ who almost sentenced thousands of lives to death."

Darius nodded and swallowed.

"I just…" Darius shook his head. "All my life, I promised that I would be good, that I would be different than him or my mother Zanine. And then I turned into someone just like them. What could I have _done?_ "

"I don't know," Poo said. "I can't hope to understand your situation. But I do know what you can do now."

"Hmm?"

"Ceres needs psions who are willing to support Jeff. We need to spread his influence and help him unify Ceres. We'll need it if we want to rebuild."

Darius felt anger rising in his chest. Poo would dare…

"Okay, two things," Darius said, keeping his tone civil. "First, when did this become 'we?' You're the King of Dalaam, Poo. What stake do you have in Ceres?"

"Ceres is a valuable ally." Poo shrugged. "If we work together and establish a new government of younger people with new ideals, we can break down the barriers that held us back for so long." He smiled. "We could free Scaraba from Eagleish imperialism, among other things."

"All right," Darius said, the syllables spilling out of his mouth one at a time. "And second, how can you possibly expect me to believe that this friend of yours is a psyching prophet? Do you even know what you're asking?"

"Yes, I know that your prophet was supposed to be the last one, and I'm not saying that you have to believe that Jeff is spreading God's word. I don't."

"Then why…?"

"We have a chance to make things _better,_ Darius. Do you know how most Ceresians live? You've met quite a few psions, but most people struggle to get enough food on the table. They're told that because they're not psions, they don't deserve anything more than that, and some of them actually _believe_ it."

"That doesn't really sound like my problem."

"These are _people,_ Darius. They're helpless, alone. They lost friends and family to the war, and now we have the chance to make life better for these people. Sure, you're not _responsible_ for them, but don't you want to help?"

"Help them, yes. But this false prophet…"

"Needs your guidance," Poo finished for him. "He's stubborn and doesn't really understand how people work. He has the opportunity to lead and inspire, but he's thinking about throwing it all away."

"Good. He knows his place."

"Tell me that what you just said doesn't sound _exactly_ like what Eagleish soldiers would say about Scarabans that are too beaten down to resist."

"…"

"Most people on Ceres don't participate in monotheistic religions. Jeff could take inspiration from other religions and spread the love that you know in your heart. I already found a Ceresian to explain his religion to Jeff, and I think that he could benefit from your take on God."

"…"

"Darius, we have to use love to counter the hate that people like your father spread. I know that you spent the first eighteen years of your life providing shelter and safety to those who need it. You'll be helping to spread love in a different way, but love is love."

"Fine," Darius said. "But don't go around telling people that I believe in Jeff's prophethood."

"Rats," Poo said, his eyes flashing with humor. "That was my top priority. I guess I'll just have to run my country now."

"You're the worst."

"I do try." Poo hopped off of the couched and opened the door, holding it and gesturing towards the hallway. "Are you ready to meet Jeff?"

* * *

"Ann," Ninten said, walking into her room in the Ceresian school. "How have you been? It feels like weeks since we beat Giygas and Lorraine."

"It _has_ been weeks, Ninten," Ana said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you ready for the ceremony?"

"I'm in the process of mentally preparing myself." Ana walked up to Ninten and put a hand on his shoulder, smiling. "Ah, you just look so _happy_ these days."

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to tone it down for the ceremony," Ninten said. "Since it's supposed to be honoring everyone who died and all."

Ana nodded, looking down at the floor.

"Every time I think about all of the people who were killed…" Ana paused. "It just becomes a list. When I think about Ness, I can _feel_ the pain. Whenever I think about Tracy and Venus, I can _feel_ the pain. But what about the others? Don't they deserve to haunt me in my sleep as well?"

"I don't know," Ninten said. "It's never really something I've come to terms with. If we really _knew_ everyone who died, what would we feel?"

"Psych. This is making my head hurt."

"I'm sure that your head will hurt plenty more during the ceremony, so I'll try to spare you for now. How do you feel in general? I've been so busy lately that I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to you."

"Yeah, everyone wants to get a piece of you," Ana said, rolling her eyes. "You're a hero, Jeff's a prophet, Poo's a king, and I'm still me. What have you been doing, anyway? Giving people inspiring speeches about how we can create a better society?"

"More or less. Poo and Garan are organizing them."

"You mean Poo is organizing them while Garan shows up."

"More or less. But you didn't answer my question, Ann."

Ana sighed.

"Life is going well, and it's also been busy for me. I've been spending a lot of time with Claus and Lucas since you're always needed somewhere. Lucas is actually super sweet once you get to know him."

"And Claus isn't?"

"You know what I mean. Lucas… He kind of reminds me of Ness."

"I think Claus told me that once."

"I was talking to him about my sexuality, and he was super supportive. I still haven't quite come to terms with it yet. I would be fine if someone else were gay or lesbian, but it feels weird that it's happening to _me._ "

"Well, I'm sure that you're not alone," Ninten said. "And it's something that you have plenty of time to come to terms with."

"Yeah." Ana cocked her head. "I think that I maybe had a crush on Tracy."

"…Oh."

"Ah, my life is all fucked up. I would say that it can only get better, but I know for a fact that it could get worse."

"I know what you mean," Ninten said. "Schizophrenia is always on the back of my mind. Always."

Ana and Ninten locked eyes for a moment. In that moment, he could see the years of fretting and worrying weighing on her, and recognized that she saw the same pain in him.

"I guess we'll just have to work on it," Ana said. "We have plenty of time left in this universe. And unlike you, I won't even be famous enough to assassinate."

"That's… one way to look at it."

Ana smiled.

"We should probably get going now. The ceremony's starting soon, and I agreed to meet someone there?"

"Who is it?"

"Let's just say that I have one psych of an apology to make."

* * *

Ana Aniah walked through the streets of Ceres. 123rd street, 122nd street, 121st street… Ana's heart leapt when she reached 120th street. She nearly bumped into a couple of people because she wasn't paying attention, but they simply said "excuse me" and acted like _they_ were the problem.

She knew that this goodwill couldn't possibly last. While their minds were on the devastating war and the elation that they had survived, people would eventually find new problems to squabble about. Who should become the next leader of Ceres, for example?

Some people wanted Jeff to rule so that God could speak through him, but Ana knew Jeff well enough to tell that he also wanted nothing to do with ruling Ceres.

That left plenty of administrative officials that were too replicable and bland for Ana to judge. Right now, Garan Monotoli acted as a temporary executive leader for Ceres until the people worked out a different solution, but he was president only in name. He would take care of the day to day meetings, but Ana knew that he would bend and fold if Poo ever wanted to step in and enact legitimate policy on Ceres.

Ana almost missed the coffee shop where she agreed to meet. Only a small sign with the words "Jackie's Café" printed on it alerted Ana to the shop's location. She walked up and opened the door, taking a peek inside at all of the brown couches and wooden furniture.

She saw what she was looking for, and her heart nearly stopped.

"Ana," Ness' mother Linda said, wearing a smile. "Why don't you come on in?"

Every instinct in her body told Ana to close the door and run as far away as she could. Linda was psyching _smiling._ That was worse than a grimace or a look of contempt. Ana could expect Linda's anger, predict Linda's anger.

What could she do in the face of a smile?

"Ana?" Linda said. "Your face is all white."

Ana gulped and stepped inside the coffee shop, smelling wafts of coffee beans. Her body screamed at her to go back, but Ana knew that she couldn't. She had _promised._

"Oh no," Linda said, concern crossing her eyes. "Ana, your body is quivering."

Ana drew a shaky breath and took a step towards Linda. She felt like she was about to fall over.

"Why don't we sit together on this couch here?" Linda said, walking over and placing her hand on a brown cushion. "I'm sure that we have a lot to talk about."

"O…kay," Ana said, taking staggered steps forward.

Eventually, she made it to the couch and collapsed on the cushions. She tried to hold her tears back, but she started crying. Why now? Why not when Lucas killed Ness? Why not when Lucas killed Tracy or Venus?

 _No…_ Ana thought. _This isn't how it's supposed to be. I'm supposed to be a warrior, not some emotional wreck who can't even face an unarmed woman. I need to be strong…_

"Ana," Linda said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Ana recoiled back from Linda's touch, but she never wanted it to leave. She needed _something_ to keep her anchored to the real world.

"I… I'm so sorry!" Ana buried her face in her hands. "I let her die too _._ "

"I heard about what happened to Tracy, along with that poor woman Venus. It's not your fault."

"How can you _say_ that?" Ana said. "Why aren't you furious with me? I stole both of your children, and I _let them die!_ "

Linda sighed, and in that moment she looked ten years older than she normally did.

"I spent so much of my time feeling sorry for myself after Ness left for Ceres," Linda said. "It wasn't easy to recognize, and I wouldn't judge anyone else for doing the same in my situation but…" Linda shrugged. "At some point, I just wanted the hatred to stop. At me, at you, at everyone."

"So you just… did it?"

"I know." Linda looked up at the ceiling. "It sounds too easy. But I guess life works out sometimes."

"Life works out? Both of your children are _dead!_ "

"And my husband." Linda looked down at the floor, her eyes wide with sorrow. "It's been rough. I won't deny that."

"Then how?" Ana said. "How can you possibly avoid the anger?"

"I think that even though Ness' life was short, he _lived_ more than anyone else I ever knew. I don't think that he would be sorry about his own death, so I'm not sorry either. You turned him from someone too afraid to step out of his room into a wonderful young man who enjoyed life at every turn. Thank you, Ana."

"And what about Tracy?"

"…Her death is more difficult to come to terms with," Linda admitted. "I don't think that I gave her the support that she needed. She cared as much as Ness, but since she showed it less…" Linda shook her head. "I think that she ran off with you because I didn't give her what she needed. You were more of a parent to her than I was."

 _Now that I think about it…_ Ana paused. _She did seem to accept me as an authority figure. She looked up to me, shadowed me when I trained her in psionics. She even followed my instructions occasionally._

"Her death is my fault as much as yours," Linda said. "If not more. You couldn't possibly have known how to take care of a teenage child at age 15. I should have. It is a guilt that I will probably bear to my grave."

"Linda…" tears came to Ana's eyes. "Thank you. I didn't know how I was going to face you. After seeing how you looked at me after I came back with the news of Ness' death, I…" Ana squeezed her eyes shut.

"I'm sorry," Linda said, her voice soft. "You feel for the world just like Ness did. You get distressed whenever someone's sad or angry, just because you know how _you_ would feel in their situation. I think that's a wonderful trait, Ana."

"Is it really?" Ana said, slowly opening her eyes. "I nearly killed myself, you know. I should be dead right now, all because I was too emotional."

"Caring is never a weakness," Linda said, looking up at the ceiling. "I should have cared more. It's going to be lonely back in Onett, but I have only myself to blame. Unless…"

"Hmm?"

Linda blushed.

"A thought just occurred to me. You lost your parents, right? So you're technically an orphan?"

"I… guess I am. I never really thought about it that way."

"Which means that you're supposed to be in an orphanage." Seeing the sneer on Ana's face, Linda smiled. "Sounds ridiculous, right? You faced down a horde of starmen, helped saved the universe, and according to the letter of the law you should be in some dingy room in the slums."

"Gross."

"I know. I'm sure that you could weave your way past the bureaucracy, but I was thinking…" Linda bit her lip. "What would you think if I adopted you? It could be something informal, but I just thought…"

 _Adoption?_ Ana thought. _I…_

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Linda said, pulling back to give Ana more space. "I just thought that maybe this way, neither of us had to be lonely. But you probably have friends, right?"

 _I do have friends,_ Ana thought. _I was so happy when I found out that Ninten was still alive, and I could always get closer to Poo. But it still feels like there's something missing._

"That sounds wonderful," Ana said. "I'll have to think about it more, of course, but I'm inclined to accept."

Linda beamed, her joy tempered by wandering eyes and uncertain movements.

"You're… serious?"

Ana nodded. "At the very least, I stay out of the orphanage and you won't have to worry about me being too much work."

"I don't care about the work," Linda said. "I think it's my turn to make a difference."

"Well," Ana said. "I know a couple other orphans who could use a mom. I promise that one of them will remind you of Ness. But there's a catch." Ana leaned in. "He's the one who killed Ness and Tracy."

"You mean Lucas and Claus." Linda's expression turned hard.

"I know that what Lucas did was terrible, but he's a really sweet kid on the inside. He was brainwashed and forced to kill thousands of people, including Ness and Tracy, but that's not really his fault."

Linda looked down at the floor. "He murdered my children, Ana. Even if it wasn't really his fault, I don't know that I could look at his face without wanting to throttle him." Linda shook her head. "I'm sorry, but my answer's no."

"I expected as much." Ana stood up. "I do hate to cut this short, but I should probably go and participate in the ceremony, since they did give me a _minor_ role in the celebration since I saved thousands of lives by stopping Darius. And since I don't want to push this conversation further after that sour turn…"

"Goodbye, Ana."

"Goodbye… mom."

* * *

"Hey."

Ninten recognized that rough voice. Unfortunately. He gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath of air, trying to prepare himself for the torrent of words that would inevitably be directed his way.

"Listen, I'm not going to yell at you. I just want to talk."

Ninten sighed and turned around, coming face to face with Paula's father. Contrary to his usual stiff posture, Mr. Polestar's shoulders sagged and he looked down at the cobblestone street. Perhaps he _wasn't_ looking for an opportunity to judge everyone he saw today.

"I heard that you're a hero," Mr. Polestar said. "You beat Gigyas."

"You could say that."

"I just don't understand," Mr. Polestar said, shaking his head. "Why? Why put yourself at that risk?"

"Are you saying that you wouldn't?"

"I would if God commanded me to, but…"

"But I'm a filthy heretic and I'm not supposed to have notions of evil and good?"

Paula's father gulped.

"Well, I care about this universe too."

"I… see." Mr. Polestar rolled a black rock back and forth in his hand.

"Where's your wife?" Ninten said, looking around. "Is she also here, or could she not make it?"

"She's not feeling well."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"I always assumed that we walked the path of righteousness. I always assumed that God would reward us for spreading his word. But I lost my daughter and my wife fell ill in the same year. Is this His punishment? Did I go wrong somewhere?"

 _Psych, yes,_ Ninten thought.

"Bad things happen to good people," Ninten said with a shrug. "Nobody lives a life free from pain."

Mr. Polestar's eyes flashed wide open, as if this were the first time he had ever heard something like that.

"You really think so?" he said.

"Nobody's perfect," Ninten said. "Ana always told me that I feel for the world and can't stand to watch people suffering. That's one of my greatest strengths. But it also makes me bitter and cynical because every injury or death completely devastates me."

"I never thought about it that way before," Mr. Polestar said, looking up at the sky. "I guess I still have plenty of time left in this universe to learn."

Paula's father? _Learn?_ Ninten wanted to applaud him right then and there.

"I…" Mr. Polestar's gaze focused on Ninten, but he faltered and looked back at the ground. "I think that I see what Paula admired in you. She could have chosen a lot worse."

Mr. Polestar pressed the black rock he was playing with earlier into Ninten's hand.

"It's obsidian," Paula's father explained. "Paula was always impressed at how something like fiery hot lava could turn into something so beautiful."

Ninten looked at the rock and saw the light dancing off of the black surface, revealing ring-shaped patterns on the rock's surface.

"Thanks," Ninten said.

"I… guess I'll see you around," Mr. Polestar said. "Good luck on your big speech or whatever."

Mr. Polestar stared walking away.

"Good luck to you too," Ninten said. "I can tell that you're looking for answers, and I hope that you continue that search for as long as you live."

"What?" Mr. Polestar said. "You don't want me to succeed?"

"Anyone who thinks that they've discovered all of the secrets in the universe is probably just kidding themselves," Ninten said. "I don't expect to stop searching for my answers until well beyond my grave."

"Ah." The confusion drained from Mr. Polestar's face. "I'll keep that in mind. Goodbye, Ninten."

Mr. Polestar faded away into the crowd of people. Ninten chuckled and looked down at the rock in his hand. He rolled the piece of obsidian around, running a finger over the sharp edges.

"Paula was wiser than she knew," Ninten said. "Someone as fiery and aggressive as lava _can_ turn into someone beautiful under the right conditions."

And he wasn't even talking about himself.

* * *

"So you came."

Starman DX sensed Jenny's presence, glimpsed the imperfections within her spirit. She was becoming more and more human by the day. Starman DX wondered if this would have happened to all of the starmen if they hadn't self-destructed when Lucas and Claus used PK Love. With only one data point, he couldn't come to a statistical conclusion.

"What's your plan, Starman DX?" Jenny said. "I'm trying to assimilate into human society; what are your plans for the future?"

"Your future is a blink in my lifetime," Starman DX said. "It's like if we were walking and I asked you what you would do after taking your next step."

"That's not an answer."

"I will act as I always have," Starman DX said.

"But what does that _mean?_ "

"Answering that question is like explaining multivariate calculus to someone who can't count past ten."

"You're not helpful today."

"I rarely am."

"Hmph." Jenny crossed her tentacle-arms, which Starman DX took as a sign of disapproval. "So why did you call me here?"

"I wanted to observe. You are like one of them."

"I am. Why don't you join me?"

"Why would I? Those humans you fraternize with act on base, biological impulses. Their feelings, their morals, their desires… everything is simply a product of evolution. Why is incest bad? Because genetic diversity is good, so people are encouraged to procreate with those who don't share their family's genes. Every one of their actions can be explained by evolution, even their ability to improvise and change."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing."

"It's not, just like worms are not bad. They provide many useful services for ecosystems. It doesn't mean that I want to be one."

"You're awfully opinionated today, you know."

"I suppose I would be, by human standards. How are you getting along with your primate brethren?"

"Many of them don't like me." Jenny shrugged. "They try to attack me."

"And you don't fight back? Maybe you aren't like them."

"Well, I don't want to _hurt_ them."

"Hah. You beat them at their own game."

"Excuse me?"

"They define loose codes of morality based on what their biology dictates, and you follow those codes better than they do, even though there is nothing inherently good or bad in the universe."

"Maybe I'll set a good example for them."

"Feel free to do that. I don't think that I need anything else from you know that I know how far you've truly gone."

"Is that a threat?"

"I don't make threats. I only make promises, and I make them explicitly."

"So… no?"

"You even _think_ and _ponder_ like they do. But yes, you are correct."

"I don't think that you're telling the entire truth, Starman DX." Jenny transmitted the equivalent of a smile. "After all, you still haven't told me how you feel about your daughter's position. Does it make you sad that she's alone and forgotten?"

"…"

"Just something to consider. I'll lend an ear anytime you need me to. But if you really don't have anything else for me…" Jenny teleported away.

Starman DX shook his head. She was making more progress than he expected.

* * *

Poo walked into Jeff's room in the capitol building, looking around at the crystal walls and floor.

"I don't think that I've ever been inside of this building before," Poo said, looking outside of the crystal walls. "It's pretty tall."

"Thanks, Andonuts," Jeff said, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, it's great that your father's name gets used as a substitute name for 'genius,' yes?" Poo said. "On a different note, I bet that the guards here don't let you go _anywhere_ without them tagging along. Wouldn't do to lose our number one VIP prophet, would it?"

"Tell me about it." Jeff released a sigh. "They let me go to the bathroom on my own, but that's about it."

Poo nodded. Jeff wondered if he was trying to introduce the topic slowly so that Jeff wouldn't bolt out of the room. If so, then his plan was working.

"I talked with Darius and Garan Monotoli," Jeff said. "They both explained their religions to me and said that you sent them."

"I did send them."

"But _why?_ "

"It's good for you to know about existing religions since you're going to make a new one."

Jeff walked up to one of the tables and slammed his fist on it.

"I will do no such thing."

"You're not going to do what?" came another voice from the entrance.

Ana walked into the room, followed by Lucas. Even though Ana's energetic demeanor continued to surprise Jeff every time that he saw her, he couldn't take his eyes off of Lucas. Jeff had only ever seen him before as a killer with an expressionless face, so his normal appearance caught him off guard.

Lucas entered and looked around the room, taking hesitant steps forward while following behind Ana. He wore a striped shirt and shorts that were plain enough to hide him in any crowd, and his eyes flashed with awe whenever he looked at a pretty crystal pattern in the wall. Far different from the person who killed Ness, Jeff might have mistaken him for Ness himself if he only looked at Lucas' actions.

"I'm not going to be your prophet," Jeff said. "End of story."

"Well, why not?" Ana said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Because I'm _not_ a prophet."

"So?"

Jeff blinked.

"What do you mean?" he said. "If I tell them that I'm a prophet, then I'm _lying_ to them."

"I still don't see the problem here," Ana said.

"Do you two have no regard for what's right?" Jeff said. "I don't know what you want out of me, but-"

"We want to make a better society," Poo said. "And _you_ are the one standing in our way."

Jeff nearly choked on the hypocrisy of that accusation.

"What?" he said. "I'm the problem? Not you, who are telling me to deceive everyone?"

"I mean," Ana said, looking up at the sky. "You are _kind of_ a prophet? Diana talks to you, right?"

They conversed almost every day through the screens on the top of the massive building in Lorraine's realm, but Jeff wasn't to tell everyone _that._

"Diana's not a god," Jeff said, giving Ana a flat stare. "Therefore, I'm not a prophet."

"You said that she has the power of an Ancient, right?" Ana said. "That kind of makes her a god."

"No it doesn't!"

"Really? You don't think so?"

"Jeff," Poo said. "You don't have to be a prophet in the traditional sense, either. Not all religions require a deity for worship."

"They… don't?"

"My religion has an afterlife and spirituality but no soul or God." Poo shrugged. "Different cultures have different notions of the divine or supernatural. That is why I want for you to consider different sides of religion."

Poo paced back and forth.

"Every religion had been abused throughout history. Every religion has been used as a tool to control people. And this is a big statement, because there are probably more religions out there than you realize."

"Right," Ana said. "Christianity and Judaism are considered to be some of the first monotheistic religions, but even they took influence from another religion Zoroastrianism. Thousands more have likely been lost in the sands of time."

"We're asking you to do the impossible, Jeff," Poo said. "We want you to create a religion that supports people without giving people like Paula's parents the ability to exert power over others based on their piety or faith. We want you to create a religion that brings Ceres together instead of dividing it. You will fail, but hopefully you will get close enough to leave a legacy of love."

 _Is this what being a ruler is like?_ Jeff thought. _I always thought that Poo would be a wonderful king, and I suppose that he is, but… I don't know if I can see the world his way. People aren't tools, and we're not just sources of trouble, either. I don't know if I can lie to all of Ceres._

"You can turn this religion into whatever you want it to be, Jeff," Ana said. "If you want a religion that creates fewer clashes with science, omit a specific origin story for the universe. You want to help Vulcan and Scaraba? Preach that we should concern ourselves with matters beyond Ceres. It's not about what's true or false, Jeff. It's about what makes people happy and inspires them."

"You both see them as masses," Jeff said. "Helpless crowds that need our joy and inspiration. Maybe they'll be better off without us."

"Yes," Ana said. "Because anarchy has _such_ a proven track record."

"I'm not suggesting anarchy, it's just that…"

"I get it," Poo said. "You want to treat people like individuals. The best way to implement your vision is to spread your word as a prophet. People can't ignore you now. Maybe one of the tenants of your religion could be that your followers are not necessarily more moral for simply following your religion. That could give more power to the people and less powerful for institutions trying to create rules based off of your teachings."

"But still…" Jeff shook his head. "I don't know if I can lie to them like that."

"Jeff."

Jeff turned his head to face Lucas. The blond child's eyes were wide and sad; Jeff could see a twinge of regret buried behind his sweet smile.

"Your words may be lies, but the feelings that you create never are," Lucas said.

"What?" Jeff furrowed his eyebrows.

"I was talking to people during the ceremony about what happened to them." Lucas looked into Jeff's eyes. "They all talked about how they prayed, about how you focused their attention on Lorraine. They all told different stories and saw different faces in the back of their minds as they prayed, but they were all connected and excited to share their story. The excitement and determination that they felt was real, and it allowed Ninten to beat Giygas and allowed you to beat Lorraine."

After Lucas spoke, the room went silent. Nobody spoke; nobody moved. Lucas kept his eyes pinned on Jeff. Even though Jeff knew that he and Lucas were about the same age, he couldn't help but picture Lucas as a small child, innocent and bursting with emotion.

 _Maybe that's why he reminds me so much of Ness,_ Jeff thought. _This guy should be the prophet, not me._

But then again, couldn't Jeff learn from Lucas and incorporate some of his values into the religion? If he refused to make a move, who knew how the people would take his words? They could use the power that they gained as a community to shut everyone else out. Jeff wouldn't allow the universe to stagnate further, and while he didn't trust his own ability to lead… Well, he had three helpful people right in front of him, didn't he?

"Psych," Jeff said. "I really don't have a choice, do I?"

"There's always a choice," Lucas said.

"And we will understand no matter what you pick," Ana said. "I'm sure that we can all understand how daunting this task must be."

 _Is that it?_ Jeff wondered. _Am I only fighting back against the idea of becoming the prophet of Ceres because deep down I don't want to be responsible for so many people?_

Jeff felt the blood drain from his face.

"I…" Jeff tried to force the words out, but they wouldn't come.

"Take your time," Poo said.

"My job's not done, is it?" Jeff said. "I guess I can try being a leading voice. There are just too many problems that we need to fix. We need to free Vulcan and Scaraba from Eagleish and Ceresian influences. We need to create a Ceres where it's okay for non-psions like me to hold important offices. We need to create a Ceres where we don't drain the mines of crystals so quickly that we won't leave any energy left for our children."

Jeff met Lucas', Ana's, and Poo's eyes in turn.

"We need to create a universe where everyone can follow their dreams. So I'll do it. I'll be the prophet of Ceres."

 **End of Book Three**

* * *

 **The epilogue fit better as two separate chunks, and this is the first part. I have the idea that this is the epilogue of book three while the next part ends the Ceres fic as a whole.**

 **Also, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has read all the way up to here! It's really strange to think that I first wrote these chapters over two years ago, and hopefully you can still enjoy what I have.**

 **I hope you have a wonderful day :)**


	57. Postscript: Tomorrow

"Claus," Lucas said. "Do you ever think that we could be… normal again?"

The question was stupid. He _knew_ that it was stupid. Lucas had murdered thousands of people and Claus had gone through several near-death experiences. They couldn't just stay the same after something so fundamental tore them apart from each other.

Claus paced back and forth in his dormitory room. Lucas cocked his head.

"Well?"

"I don't know," Claus said. "Normal is a strong word. I feel like so few people are normal that it's now abnormal to be normal."

Well, _that_ sent Lucas' head spinning. As he was trying to figure out the meaning behind Claus' words, his brother continued:

"I don't think that we can ever go back to the way things were," Claus said. "But even back then, we weren't really normal. Small towns are declining, for better or for worse. Our circumstances were… unusual."

"Fortunate," Lucas said.

"Unusual," Claus maintained.

"I can't stand the city noise," Lucas said. "Every time that I take a breath, it feels like I'm going to choke."

"We'll come to terms with it," Claus said. "We got stronger from our experiences. We won't let this universe destroy us a second time."

 _Speak for yourself,_ Lucas thought.

He bit his lip. Even though he knew that Claus would no longer yell at him for voicing his own thoughts, Lucas couldn't help but feel a sense of dread looming over him. It had kept him company for the months that Claus tormented him and abused him, and now it refused to go away.

"Lucas?" Claus said, his face softening. "You look like you have something to say."

"…"

"I promise that I won't hurt you."

"What if our experiences didn't make us stronger?" Lucas said. "What if we rebuilt ourselves but our suffering left cracks? There are some words that will send me into a panic if someone just _says_ them. We might be harder, Claus, but we're more brittle. What if one of us snaps again?"

"Then we'll go from there," Claus said, looking out the window at the sunset. "But maybe Ninten and Jeff will create a universe where people like us don't suffer as much."

"I don't know. There will always be people who hurt."

"There will be," came a voice from the doorway. "But maybe we can reduce that number, starting with you two."

Lucas turned around to see Jeff walking into the room, smiling at Claus. Lucas never knew what to make of the so-called prophet. He could tell that Jeff was struggling with something beyond anyone's grasp, but if even his close friends didn't probe further than Lucas didn't want to be the one to bring up a sore subject.

"I apologize for the entrance," Jeff said. "But I heard the exact right time to come in with a one-liner."

"That was so long that I think it qualifies as a two-liner," Claus said.

"Diana has a request to make," Jeff said. "She can talk to people in the outside universe from her little realm, and since we're on friendly terms…"

"Yes, she told you to bug us. What do you want?"

"Essentially, she wants you to tell her your stories."

"Our… stories?" Claus frowned.

"While I focus on the short term solutions, Diana is thinking ahead for centuries to come. The people of Ceres understand the price of war and would not want to repeat what happened here, but what about our children?"

"She wants to show them," Lucas said. "She wants our children to see the situation that we got ourselves into and how we managed to pull out of it. She wants everyone in future generations to know how we loved, cried, sinned, and suffered."

"More or less," Jeff said. "She's recording her account of the last few months from our perspectives, starting from when Ness, Ninten, and I flew off to Ceres. But she wants to take more personal stories from others. She wants to record some of your memories."

"And are we allowed to say no?" Claus asked.

"Of course," Jeff said. "The choice is yours entirely."

"In that case, I don't think that I want to."

"I'll do it," Lucas said, struggling to speak louder than a whisper. "We went through some of the same things, so I can fill in Claus' gaps."

"Lucas, are you sure?" Claus said. "Other people might know what you did."

"They'll know anyway," Lucas said. "Now they'll feel it and know just how broken I was. They'll know to avoid my path."

"That's… quite noble of you," Jeff said.

"I try to help in any way that I can," Lucas said. "It's only fitting, after what I've done."

Jeff nodded, his eyes flashing with pain.

"I understand," Jeff said. "I released something dangerous into the universe when I made those bottle rockets. I feel responsible for thousands of deaths, and that guilt is part of what's motivating me to play the role of a prophet. Even though Diana isn't a god and I know it…" Jeff shrugged. "Maybe I can spread some happiness."

"You both sound like you have tough tasks ahead of you," Claus said, plopping down on a couch. "I'm ready to kick back, relax, and get back into the rhythm of school."

"How many memories does Diana want?" Lucas asked Jeff. "Will she scan my whole memory and pick out what she wants to know?"

"That's what she's planning. Would you like to pick out the memory yourself?"

Lucas took a deep breath. His heart pounded in his chest. He could say this. He could _do_ this.

"I've been thinking over the past few weeks about the moments that defined me and turned me into someone who would _willingly_ become a mindless killer to escape the pain and guilt. I've decided on three different moments. Is it okay if I send her all three?"

"She might not use all of them, since she only planned on gathering one, but I don't see why not."

"What three events are you thinking of, Lucas?" Claus said.

Lucas bit his lip. He had rehearsed this a thousand times in his head, never expecting a chance to say it out loud. But if he planned on having Diana potentially show his memories to millions of people so that they would understand life during the Starman War, Lucas might as well get used to vocalizing his thoughts.

"The first is when dad tried to kill you," Lucas said.

Claus' eyes flashed with surprise.

"Really."

"Yeah, it was the first time that I realized I couldn't cling onto my past any longer. I had to step forward into the wilderness with you. But then things only got worse."

Claus gulped and nodded.

"I'd say the second was when we used the telecommunicator to talk with President Carpainter and she told us about her plans to destroy Aphrodite."

"And those rogues that tried to kill you afterwards," Claus said, looking up at the ceiling. "And then…" Claus jolted up in his seat. "That's when you tried to kill me, wasn't it?"

"I never really wanted to kill you, Claus. I just felt so _powerless._ "

"I'm sorry. I wish that I could change the past and I'm trying to get better."

"It's okay." Lucas took a deep breath. "The third memory… I think that we both know what it is."

Claus' eyes flashed with recognition, and he nodded along.

"If you don't mind me asking," Jeff said, furrowing his eyebrows. "What is the last memory? I don't want to probe, but if you're going to share this with generations to come…"

"Then I might as well tell you." Lucas stood straight up, scraping together all of the confidence that he could muster. "The third memory is from when I killed my mother."

For a minute, nobody spoke.

"Diana's free to use other memories," Lucas said, breaking the silence, "But those were the three that I think defined me."

"I think that she would agree," Jeff said. "Thank you, Lucas. I don't want to give you a false hope, but…"

"But what?"

At this point, Lucas would take any sign of good news and beg for more.

"Did Ana talk to you about how she's getting adopted?"

Claus snorted.

"Are you serious?" he said. "If anyone _doesn't_ need to be adopted, it's her."

"She's more fragile than you might think," Jeff said. "She nearly ended up killing herself."

 _That_ wiped the smirk off of Claus' face.

"So who's adopting her?" Lucas said.

"Ness' mother, apparently. She lost her husband along with Ness and Tracy, so she doesn't have anyone left in her life, just like Ana."

"Seems like a good match," Claus said. "I hope that they get along well."

"Ana asked if Linda would also be willing to adopt you two."

A pang of guilt took Lucas like an arrow through the stomach. If he hadn't turned into a savant and killed Ness and Tracy, she wouldn't have needed to adopt anybody.

"And she denied Ana, of course," Claus said.

Jeff nodded.

"She didn't think that she could bear to interact with…" his gaze trailed over to Lucas.

Lucas' legs nearly gave in from shame.

"But maybe once she sees your memories, she'll have a change of heart. If your experiences are as heart-wrenching as you describe them to be…"

"Ah, she might take pity on poor Lucas instead of loathing him," Claus said. "Would Diana be willing to make that happen?"

"Considering that you two played a key role in saving the universe, I would imagine so."

"Please," Lucas said, his voice coming out as a whisper. "Please."

"Lucas?" Claus said.

"If I have another chance to have a mom…" Lucas squeezed his eyes shut. "Please."

Lucas felt Claus' hand on his shoulder. It sent of a couple panic alarms in his body, but it also made Lucas feel secure. How could he possibly jump to both extremes at once?

"I'll do my best, and I'm sure that Diana will as well," Jeff said. "She'll probably contact you tomorrow and have you tell your stories."

"Thank you," Lucas said. He inhaled, still keeping his eyes closed. "Thank you, Jeff."

Jeff fidgeted with his glasses. "I'm… glad I could help."

Lucas could feel his body shaking.

"I lived so long… without anybody. And now, even with Claus here, I can't…"

Lucas opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the setting sun outside. Pink light danced off of the dome in the sky.

"I'll get something together," Jeff said. "I think that once Linda knows who you are, she'll be glad to take you. You act so much like Ness, after all."

Tears streamed from Lucas' eyes. "Thank you."

"I guess I'll take my leave," Jeff said, turning around and walking towards the door. "See you around."

"Goodbye," Claus said.

Lucas heard the door swing open, and moments later it shut with a click. Lucas released a weary sigh, looking out at the fading sun.

"I guess that's all for today," Claus said. "We might want to go to sleep soon. I'm exhausted, and we have another long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Yep," Lucas said. "Rebuilding a planet isn't easy work."

As Claus changed into his pajamas, Lucas continued to stare at the setting sun. He soaked in the reds and oranges, the pinks and yellows that formed a delicate palette of the sky.

"One more day down," Lucas said. "It feels like we've been through so much in the past couple of years."

"We _have_ been through so much," Claus said. "Honestly, I'm still not quite sure how we managed to make it all fit into our schedules."

Lucas smiled. Even Claus' subtle humor was enough to cheer him up.

"But we made it," Lucas said. "We went through a ceremony recognizing the war and honoring those who died. Now that we can leave the past behind…"

"Yeah," Claus said. "We can finally move forward and rebuild."

By then, the sun had mostly set, and darkness enveloped the sky. Lucas looked up and saw a few stars scattered across the heavens.

"Tomorrow is another day," Lucas said. "I can't wait to see what the future holds."

 **End of the Ceres Trilogy**

* * *

 **And that's it! Thanks so much for everyone who read this fic and I hope you all got something out of it. :)**

 **Even if it's just a few people who make it here (which it probably is since this fic is longgg and complicated and very AU) that's fine. It means a lot to me that anyone's reading my work at all.**

 **Thanks, everyone.**

 **I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a great 2019! :D**


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